vta board secretary sent: monday...

47
From: VTA Board Secretary <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 1, 2019 11:24 AM To: VTA Board of Directors <[email protected]>; VTA Advisory Committee Members <[email protected]> Subject: VTA April/May 2019 Take-One is now available VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members: The April/May 2019 Take-One is now available. Please click on the link below: http://vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/Take%20One_Final.pdf Thank you. Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 N. First Street San Jose, CA 95134 408.321.5680 [email protected] Conserve paper. Think before you print.

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Page 1: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Monday April 1 2019 1124 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA AprilMay 2019 Take-One is now available

VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members

The AprilMay 2019 Take-One is now available Please click on the link below

httpvtaorgcontents3-us-west-1amazonawscomSite_ContentTake20One_Finalpdf

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

Conserve paper Think before you print

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Monday April 1 2019 300 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Information Addendum to the April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

Importance High

VTA Board of Directors

Please see attached Addendum (Item 91BX ndash Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing

Litigation) to the April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

You may also view the Addendum to the Agenda by clicking on our website here

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680

Conserve paper Think before you print

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday April 4 2019

530 pm

Board of Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center

70 West Hedding Street San Jose California

ADDENDUM TO AGENDA

91BX Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation [Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Sharks Sports amp Entertainment LLC v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 18-CV-327687)

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Wednesday April 3 2019 344 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Information - April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Materials

VTA Board of Directors

Attached you will find the following Agenda Items for the April 4 2019 Board of Directors

meeting attached and on our website via the link below

bull Revised Agenda Item 62 ndash Board Regular Meeting Minutes of March 7 2019

bull Revised Agenda Item 616 ndash FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding

Proposal Memo

bull Agenda Item 84D ndash Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

The following PowerPoint presentations can now be viewed on our website via the link below

bull Agenda Item 71 ndash VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and a Look Ahead

for 2019

bull Agenda Item 72 ndash Santa Clara-San Benito Mobility Partnership and SR 152 Trade

Corridor Project

bull Agenda Item 81B ndash BART Silicon Valley Program Update

You may review the entire packet with the revised items on our website

Thank you

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

boardsecretaryvtaorg (e-mail)

(408) 3215680 (telephone)

(408) 9550891 (fax)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday March 7 2019

MINUTES

1 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The Regular Meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authorityrsquos (VTA) Board of

Directors (Board) was called to order by Chairperson OrsquoNeill at 533 pm in the Board of

Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center 70 West Hedding Street San Joseacute

California

11 ADMINISTER OATHS OF OFFICE

Elaine Baltao VTA Board Secretary administered the Oath of Office to Alternate

Board Member Marie Blankley

12 ROLL CALL

Attendee Name Title Status

Marie Blankley Alternate Board Member Present

Larry Carr Board Member Present

Magdalena Carrasco Board Member Present

Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson Present

David Cortese Board Member Present

Dev Davis Alternate Board Member Present

Lan Diep Board Member Present

Susan Ellenberg Alternate Board Member Absent

Adrian Fine Alternate Board Member Absent

Glenn Hendricks Alternate Board Member Present

Chappie Jones Board Member Absent

Sam Liccardo Board Member Present

John McAlister Board Member Present

Howard Miller Alternate Board Member Present

Teresa OrsquoNeill Chairperson Present

Raul Peralez Board Member Present

Rob Rennie Board Member Absent

Rich Tran Board Member Present

Jeannie Bruins Ex-Officio Member Present

Alternates do not serve unless participating as a Member

A quorum was present

13 Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance commenced

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda Item 62

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 2 of 12

14 Orders of the Day

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted the following 1) Agenda Item 25 Resolution of

Commendation for Steve Heminger Executive Director of the Metropolitan

Transportation Commission (MTC) was on the dais and the public table and

2) Revised Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors has been revised to reflect the removal

of the word ldquonegotiaterdquo in the recommendation language and is also on the dais and

public table

MSC (LiccardoChavez) to accept the Orders of the Day

RESULT ACCEPTED ndash Agenda Item 14

MOVER Sam Liccardo Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister

Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

2 AWARDS AND COMMENDATION

The Agenda was taken out of order

25 Resolution of Commendation for Steve Heminger

MSC (CorteseChavez) to adopt Resolution of Commendation No

20190306 for Steve Heminger upon his retirement as the Executive Director of

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 25

MOVER Dave Cortese Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister Miller

OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

NOTE MSC MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED THE

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 2: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Monday April 1 2019 300 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Information Addendum to the April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

Importance High

VTA Board of Directors

Please see attached Addendum (Item 91BX ndash Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing

Litigation) to the April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda

You may also view the Addendum to the Agenda by clicking on our website here

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680

Conserve paper Think before you print

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday April 4 2019

530 pm

Board of Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center

70 West Hedding Street San Jose California

ADDENDUM TO AGENDA

91BX Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation [Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Sharks Sports amp Entertainment LLC v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 18-CV-327687)

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Wednesday April 3 2019 344 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Information - April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Materials

VTA Board of Directors

Attached you will find the following Agenda Items for the April 4 2019 Board of Directors

meeting attached and on our website via the link below

bull Revised Agenda Item 62 ndash Board Regular Meeting Minutes of March 7 2019

bull Revised Agenda Item 616 ndash FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding

Proposal Memo

bull Agenda Item 84D ndash Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

The following PowerPoint presentations can now be viewed on our website via the link below

bull Agenda Item 71 ndash VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and a Look Ahead

for 2019

bull Agenda Item 72 ndash Santa Clara-San Benito Mobility Partnership and SR 152 Trade

Corridor Project

bull Agenda Item 81B ndash BART Silicon Valley Program Update

You may review the entire packet with the revised items on our website

Thank you

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

boardsecretaryvtaorg (e-mail)

(408) 3215680 (telephone)

(408) 9550891 (fax)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday March 7 2019

MINUTES

1 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The Regular Meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authorityrsquos (VTA) Board of

Directors (Board) was called to order by Chairperson OrsquoNeill at 533 pm in the Board of

Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center 70 West Hedding Street San Joseacute

California

11 ADMINISTER OATHS OF OFFICE

Elaine Baltao VTA Board Secretary administered the Oath of Office to Alternate

Board Member Marie Blankley

12 ROLL CALL

Attendee Name Title Status

Marie Blankley Alternate Board Member Present

Larry Carr Board Member Present

Magdalena Carrasco Board Member Present

Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson Present

David Cortese Board Member Present

Dev Davis Alternate Board Member Present

Lan Diep Board Member Present

Susan Ellenberg Alternate Board Member Absent

Adrian Fine Alternate Board Member Absent

Glenn Hendricks Alternate Board Member Present

Chappie Jones Board Member Absent

Sam Liccardo Board Member Present

John McAlister Board Member Present

Howard Miller Alternate Board Member Present

Teresa OrsquoNeill Chairperson Present

Raul Peralez Board Member Present

Rob Rennie Board Member Absent

Rich Tran Board Member Present

Jeannie Bruins Ex-Officio Member Present

Alternates do not serve unless participating as a Member

A quorum was present

13 Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance commenced

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda Item 62

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 2 of 12

14 Orders of the Day

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted the following 1) Agenda Item 25 Resolution of

Commendation for Steve Heminger Executive Director of the Metropolitan

Transportation Commission (MTC) was on the dais and the public table and

2) Revised Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors has been revised to reflect the removal

of the word ldquonegotiaterdquo in the recommendation language and is also on the dais and

public table

MSC (LiccardoChavez) to accept the Orders of the Day

RESULT ACCEPTED ndash Agenda Item 14

MOVER Sam Liccardo Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister

Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

2 AWARDS AND COMMENDATION

The Agenda was taken out of order

25 Resolution of Commendation for Steve Heminger

MSC (CorteseChavez) to adopt Resolution of Commendation No

20190306 for Steve Heminger upon his retirement as the Executive Director of

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 25

MOVER Dave Cortese Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister Miller

OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

NOTE MSC MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED THE

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 3: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday April 4 2019

530 pm

Board of Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center

70 West Hedding Street San Jose California

ADDENDUM TO AGENDA

91BX Conference with Legal Counsel - Existing Litigation [Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Sharks Sports amp Entertainment LLC v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 18-CV-327687)

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Wednesday April 3 2019 344 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Information - April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Materials

VTA Board of Directors

Attached you will find the following Agenda Items for the April 4 2019 Board of Directors

meeting attached and on our website via the link below

bull Revised Agenda Item 62 ndash Board Regular Meeting Minutes of March 7 2019

bull Revised Agenda Item 616 ndash FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding

Proposal Memo

bull Agenda Item 84D ndash Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

The following PowerPoint presentations can now be viewed on our website via the link below

bull Agenda Item 71 ndash VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and a Look Ahead

for 2019

bull Agenda Item 72 ndash Santa Clara-San Benito Mobility Partnership and SR 152 Trade

Corridor Project

bull Agenda Item 81B ndash BART Silicon Valley Program Update

You may review the entire packet with the revised items on our website

Thank you

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

boardsecretaryvtaorg (e-mail)

(408) 3215680 (telephone)

(408) 9550891 (fax)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday March 7 2019

MINUTES

1 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The Regular Meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authorityrsquos (VTA) Board of

Directors (Board) was called to order by Chairperson OrsquoNeill at 533 pm in the Board of

Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center 70 West Hedding Street San Joseacute

California

11 ADMINISTER OATHS OF OFFICE

Elaine Baltao VTA Board Secretary administered the Oath of Office to Alternate

Board Member Marie Blankley

12 ROLL CALL

Attendee Name Title Status

Marie Blankley Alternate Board Member Present

Larry Carr Board Member Present

Magdalena Carrasco Board Member Present

Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson Present

David Cortese Board Member Present

Dev Davis Alternate Board Member Present

Lan Diep Board Member Present

Susan Ellenberg Alternate Board Member Absent

Adrian Fine Alternate Board Member Absent

Glenn Hendricks Alternate Board Member Present

Chappie Jones Board Member Absent

Sam Liccardo Board Member Present

John McAlister Board Member Present

Howard Miller Alternate Board Member Present

Teresa OrsquoNeill Chairperson Present

Raul Peralez Board Member Present

Rob Rennie Board Member Absent

Rich Tran Board Member Present

Jeannie Bruins Ex-Officio Member Present

Alternates do not serve unless participating as a Member

A quorum was present

13 Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance commenced

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda Item 62

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 2 of 12

14 Orders of the Day

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted the following 1) Agenda Item 25 Resolution of

Commendation for Steve Heminger Executive Director of the Metropolitan

Transportation Commission (MTC) was on the dais and the public table and

2) Revised Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors has been revised to reflect the removal

of the word ldquonegotiaterdquo in the recommendation language and is also on the dais and

public table

MSC (LiccardoChavez) to accept the Orders of the Day

RESULT ACCEPTED ndash Agenda Item 14

MOVER Sam Liccardo Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister

Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

2 AWARDS AND COMMENDATION

The Agenda was taken out of order

25 Resolution of Commendation for Steve Heminger

MSC (CorteseChavez) to adopt Resolution of Commendation No

20190306 for Steve Heminger upon his retirement as the Executive Director of

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 25

MOVER Dave Cortese Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister Miller

OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

NOTE MSC MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED THE

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 4: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Wednesday April 3 2019 344 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Information - April 4 2019 Board of Directors Meeting Materials

VTA Board of Directors

Attached you will find the following Agenda Items for the April 4 2019 Board of Directors

meeting attached and on our website via the link below

bull Revised Agenda Item 62 ndash Board Regular Meeting Minutes of March 7 2019

bull Revised Agenda Item 616 ndash FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding

Proposal Memo

bull Agenda Item 84D ndash Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

The following PowerPoint presentations can now be viewed on our website via the link below

bull Agenda Item 71 ndash VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and a Look Ahead

for 2019

bull Agenda Item 72 ndash Santa Clara-San Benito Mobility Partnership and SR 152 Trade

Corridor Project

bull Agenda Item 81B ndash BART Silicon Valley Program Update

You may review the entire packet with the revised items on our website

Thank you

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

boardsecretaryvtaorg (e-mail)

(408) 3215680 (telephone)

(408) 9550891 (fax)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday March 7 2019

MINUTES

1 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The Regular Meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authorityrsquos (VTA) Board of

Directors (Board) was called to order by Chairperson OrsquoNeill at 533 pm in the Board of

Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center 70 West Hedding Street San Joseacute

California

11 ADMINISTER OATHS OF OFFICE

Elaine Baltao VTA Board Secretary administered the Oath of Office to Alternate

Board Member Marie Blankley

12 ROLL CALL

Attendee Name Title Status

Marie Blankley Alternate Board Member Present

Larry Carr Board Member Present

Magdalena Carrasco Board Member Present

Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson Present

David Cortese Board Member Present

Dev Davis Alternate Board Member Present

Lan Diep Board Member Present

Susan Ellenberg Alternate Board Member Absent

Adrian Fine Alternate Board Member Absent

Glenn Hendricks Alternate Board Member Present

Chappie Jones Board Member Absent

Sam Liccardo Board Member Present

John McAlister Board Member Present

Howard Miller Alternate Board Member Present

Teresa OrsquoNeill Chairperson Present

Raul Peralez Board Member Present

Rob Rennie Board Member Absent

Rich Tran Board Member Present

Jeannie Bruins Ex-Officio Member Present

Alternates do not serve unless participating as a Member

A quorum was present

13 Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance commenced

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda Item 62

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 2 of 12

14 Orders of the Day

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted the following 1) Agenda Item 25 Resolution of

Commendation for Steve Heminger Executive Director of the Metropolitan

Transportation Commission (MTC) was on the dais and the public table and

2) Revised Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors has been revised to reflect the removal

of the word ldquonegotiaterdquo in the recommendation language and is also on the dais and

public table

MSC (LiccardoChavez) to accept the Orders of the Day

RESULT ACCEPTED ndash Agenda Item 14

MOVER Sam Liccardo Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister

Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

2 AWARDS AND COMMENDATION

The Agenda was taken out of order

25 Resolution of Commendation for Steve Heminger

MSC (CorteseChavez) to adopt Resolution of Commendation No

20190306 for Steve Heminger upon his retirement as the Executive Director of

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 25

MOVER Dave Cortese Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister Miller

OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

NOTE MSC MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED THE

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 5: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Thursday March 7 2019

MINUTES

1 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The Regular Meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authorityrsquos (VTA) Board of

Directors (Board) was called to order by Chairperson OrsquoNeill at 533 pm in the Board of

Supervisorsrsquo Chambers County Government Center 70 West Hedding Street San Joseacute

California

11 ADMINISTER OATHS OF OFFICE

Elaine Baltao VTA Board Secretary administered the Oath of Office to Alternate

Board Member Marie Blankley

12 ROLL CALL

Attendee Name Title Status

Marie Blankley Alternate Board Member Present

Larry Carr Board Member Present

Magdalena Carrasco Board Member Present

Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson Present

David Cortese Board Member Present

Dev Davis Alternate Board Member Present

Lan Diep Board Member Present

Susan Ellenberg Alternate Board Member Absent

Adrian Fine Alternate Board Member Absent

Glenn Hendricks Alternate Board Member Present

Chappie Jones Board Member Absent

Sam Liccardo Board Member Present

John McAlister Board Member Present

Howard Miller Alternate Board Member Present

Teresa OrsquoNeill Chairperson Present

Raul Peralez Board Member Present

Rob Rennie Board Member Absent

Rich Tran Board Member Present

Jeannie Bruins Ex-Officio Member Present

Alternates do not serve unless participating as a Member

A quorum was present

13 Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance commenced

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda Item 62

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 2 of 12

14 Orders of the Day

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted the following 1) Agenda Item 25 Resolution of

Commendation for Steve Heminger Executive Director of the Metropolitan

Transportation Commission (MTC) was on the dais and the public table and

2) Revised Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors has been revised to reflect the removal

of the word ldquonegotiaterdquo in the recommendation language and is also on the dais and

public table

MSC (LiccardoChavez) to accept the Orders of the Day

RESULT ACCEPTED ndash Agenda Item 14

MOVER Sam Liccardo Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister

Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

2 AWARDS AND COMMENDATION

The Agenda was taken out of order

25 Resolution of Commendation for Steve Heminger

MSC (CorteseChavez) to adopt Resolution of Commendation No

20190306 for Steve Heminger upon his retirement as the Executive Director of

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 25

MOVER Dave Cortese Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister Miller

OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

NOTE MSC MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED THE

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 6: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 2 of 12

14 Orders of the Day

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted the following 1) Agenda Item 25 Resolution of

Commendation for Steve Heminger Executive Director of the Metropolitan

Transportation Commission (MTC) was on the dais and the public table and

2) Revised Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors has been revised to reflect the removal

of the word ldquonegotiaterdquo in the recommendation language and is also on the dais and

public table

MSC (LiccardoChavez) to accept the Orders of the Day

RESULT ACCEPTED ndash Agenda Item 14

MOVER Sam Liccardo Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister

Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

2 AWARDS AND COMMENDATION

The Agenda was taken out of order

25 Resolution of Commendation for Steve Heminger

MSC (CorteseChavez) to adopt Resolution of Commendation No

20190306 for Steve Heminger upon his retirement as the Executive Director of

the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 25

MOVER Dave Cortese Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Cortese Davis Diep Liccardo McAlister Miller

OrsquoNeill Peralez Rennie

NOES None

ABSENT Carrasco

NOTE MSC MEANS MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED AND UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED THE

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 7: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 3 of 12

21 2018 Employees of the Year

The Board recognized Mimi Nguyen Office and Timekeeping Technician Cerone

Office and Harinderpal Singh Coach Operator at Chaboya Operations as

Employees of the Year for 2018

Board Member Carrasco arrived and took her seat at 538 pm

22 Special Recognition of VTA Employees

The Board recognized the following employees for their critical roles that helped

lead to the arrest of a man wanted on an FBI felony warrant Coach Operators Juan

Balleza and Michael Grenz

23 Present Resolution of Appreciation to Outgoing Board Member

Johnny Khamis

Outgoing Board Member Johnny Khamis was unable to attend the meeting

24 Community Partnership Recognition

The Board recognized Meggan Powers Family Supportive Housing Board

Chairperson for being a valued community partner not only to VTA but to the

many families in Santa Clara County

Public Comment

Roland Lebrun expressed concern about autonomous vehicles

3 PUBLIC COMMENT

The following Members of the Public commented on the proposed new 2019 Transit

Service Plan

bull Angi Dixon VTA Information Services Representative

bull Monica Mallon Interested Citizen

bull Jake Tonkel Interested Citizen

bull Andrew Boone Interested Citizen

bull Scott Lorgan Interested Citizen

bull Cole Cameron Interested Citizen

bull Nassim Nouri Interested Citizen

bull Gary Interested Citizen

bull Interested Citizen

James Wightman Interested Citizen commented on the following 1) light rail safety and

security 2) increase light rail speed 3) light rail venting process 4) BART service to San

Jose and 5) suggested placement of closed circuit television (CCTV) on light rail

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 8: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 4 of 12

Roland Lebrun Interested Citizen referenced a recent light rail incident where a bus bridge

was initiated and suggested buses intersecting with a bus bridge should be rerouted to

intervene and assist

Blair Beekman Interested Citizen expressed support for the public process

Joyce OrsquoNeil Interested Citizen expressed concern with decreased paratransit service

4 PUBLIC HEARINGS

There were no Public Hearings

5 COMMITTEE REPORTS

51 Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill noted that the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)

Chairpersonrsquos report was contained in the Board Membersrsquo reading folders

and placed on the public table

52 Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairpersonrsquos Report

Glenn Hendricks Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Chairperson provided a

report on the items discussed at the February 8 2019 PAC meeting

53 Standing Committee Chairpersonsrsquo Report

Congestion Management Program and Planning (CMPP) Committee Chairperson

Peralez provided a report on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 CMPP

Committee meeting

Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee Chairperson Carr provided a report

on the items discussed at the February 21 2019 AampF Committee meeting

Safety Security and Transit Planning and Operations (SSTPO) Committee Vice

Chairperson Chavez provided a report on the items discussed at the

February 22 2019 SSTPO Committee meeting

Capital Program Committee (CPC) Chairperson Sam Liccardo provided a report on

the items discussed at the February 28 2019 CPC meeting

Governance amp Audit (GampA) Committee Chairperson OrsquoNeill provided a report on

the items discussed at the March 7 2019 GampA Committee meeting

54 Policy Advisory Board Chairpersonsrsquo Report

State Route (SR) 85 Corridor Policy Advisory Board (PAB) Chairperson McAlister

provided a report on the items discussed at the February 25 2019 PAB meeting

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 9: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 5 of 12

6 CONSENT AGENDA

Alternate Board Member Miller referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft 2016 Measure B

Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework and expressed

concern with the percentage attributed to Innovative Mobility Models amp Programs

Public Comment

Mr Boone commented on the following 1) requested the Board take public comment before

voting on the consent calendar 2) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and

encouraged VTA to lead an effort to encourage a citystate Transit Signal Priority Policy

and 3) expressed support for Agenda Item 65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for

Advancing High Capacity Transit Corridors and encouraged VTA to continue to study how

to speed up transit on El Camino Real

Mr Beekman made the following comments 1) referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit

Speed Policy and opposed increasing speeds and 2) referenced Agenda Item 63 Draft

2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program Framework

and noted funding for fares is vital

Mr Wightman commented on the following 1) suggested safety ldquoVentingrdquo for light rail

tracks in downtown San Jose and 2) commencement of BART service

Ex-Officio Jeannie Bruins referenced Agenda Item 62 Transit Speed Policy and noted

the report states ldquoultimately the success of the policy depends on the on-going cooperation

support and partnership from VTA and local jurisdictions or other partnersrdquo She requested

staff consider how VTA can proactively build awareness and education in local

jurisdictions

61 Board of Directors Regular Meeting Minutes of February 7 2019

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve the Board of Directors Regular Meeting

Minutes of February 7 2019

62 Transit Speed Policy

MSC (CarrPeralez) approve a Transit Speed Policy for VTA

63 Draft 2016 Measure B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant

Program Framework

MSC (CarrPeralez) to approve draft framework of the proposed 2016 Measure

B Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 10: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 6 of 12

64 Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) Contract

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a contract with

Itech Solution the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in the amount of

$810810 for the Bus Stop Enhancement at Various Locations (C18171F) contract

65 Contract Award for the Strategic Plan for Advancing High Capacity Transit

Corridors

MSC (CarrPeralez) to authorize the General Manager to execute a Firm Fixed

Price contract with Fehr amp Peers to complete the Strategic Plan for Advancing High

Capacity Transit Corridors The contract shall be for a period of 18 months and not

to exceed $800000

RESULT ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] ndash Agenda Items 61 ndash 65

MOVER Larry Carr Board Member

SECONDER Raul Peralez Board Member

AYES Carr Carrasco Cortese Chavez Davis Diep Liccardo

McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez Tran

NOES None

ABSENT None

7 REGULAR AGENDA

Administration and Finance Committee

71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused themselves from

Agenda Item 71 Blossom Hill Station Joint Development ndash Exclusive

Negotiations Agreement

Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo left their seats at 642 pm

Ron Golem Deputy Director Real Estate introduced Kelly Snider Project

Management Consultant Mr Golem provided the staff report and a presentation

entitled ldquoBlossom Hill Station Developer Selectionrdquo highlighting 1) VTArsquos

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy Goals 2) Cityrsquos ldquoSignature Projectrdquo

Requirements 3) Blossom Hill Request for Proposals (RFP) Preparation 4) VTA

Goals and RFP Requirements 5) RFP Outreach and Publicity 6) One proposal

received by November 2 2018 deadline 7) Proposed Program and Uses 8) GRBH

Proposed Site Plan 9) Proposed Financial Terms 10) VTA Review Panel

Recommendations and 11) Administration amp Finance Committee

recommendations

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 11: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 7 of 12

Board Member McAlister left his seat at 649 pm

Board Member McAlister returned to his seat at 651 pm

Members of the Board and staff discussed the following 1) parking concerns

2) shared amenities 3) research encourages integration of market rate units with

affordable units 4) consider financing and the use of grant funding for affordable

housing 5) capture Administration and Finance (AampF) Committee

recommendations 6) encourage safety and open public space 7) pedestrian

circulation 8) consider adding photovoltaic solar panels or a tree canopy and

9) use of Measure A funds

Members of the Board made the following requests and recommendations

1) requested a mid-point closed session check-in to keep Board members apprised

of negotiations 2) provide clear performance benchmarks with the ability for VTA

to withdraw from the agreement if timelines are not met 3) provide stronger

assessment of the number of affordable housing units for the project and

4) provide long term revenue opportunities

MSC (PeralezChavez) on a vote of 9 ayes to 0 noes to 3 recusals to authorize

the General Manager to enter into an Exclusive Negotiations Agreement (ENA)

with Green Republic Blossom Hill LLC (a Joint Venture of Republic Urban

Properties Swenson and EAH Housing) for negotiation of the proposed terms and

conditions of a Joint Development Agreement for a Joint Development project at

the Blossom Hill Station Board Members Carrasco Cortese and Liccardo recused

RESULT ADOPTED ndash Agenda Item 71

MOVER Raul Peralez Board Member

SECONDER Cindy Chavez Vice Chairperson

AYES Carr Chavez Davis Diep McAlister Miller OrsquoNeill Peralez

Tran

NOES None

ABSENT Non

RECUSED Carrasco Cortese Liccardo

Board Members Carrasco and Liccardo returned to their seats at 711 pm

8 OTHER ITEMS

81 General Manager Report

Nuria I Fernandez General ManagerCEO provided a report highlighting the

following

bull Release of the 2018 VTA Annual Report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 12: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 8 of 12

bull On February 25 2019 VTA won first place in the American Public

Transportation Association AdWheel Award for its Destinations Campaign

bull Outreach efforts for the Draft 2019 New Transit Service Plan

bull On March 8 2019 VTA in partnership with Caltrans held a

groundbreaking event for Phase 3 of the Silicon Valley Express Lanes

Project and on March 22nd at 1030 am at the Sheraton Hotel Sunnyvale

Parking lot VTA along with partners Caltrans and the City of Sunnyvale

will celebrate the Mathilda Avenue improvements of SR 237 and US 101

bull VTA launched a carpool promotion with Waze and Scoop to reduce solo

driving

bull VTA will participate in the American Public Transportation Associationrsquos

(APTA) National Get on Board Day on April 25 2019 which is dedicated

to increasing support and utilization of Public Transit

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer provided the February 2019 Ridership report

Angelique Gaeta Chief of System Safety amp Security provided an update on

System Safety and Security

Board Member Cortese returned to his seat at 724 pm

81A Government Affairs Report

Ms Fernandez noted that the Government Affairs Update was in the Board

Membersrsquo reading folders and public binder

Public Comment

Mr Boon encouraged the Board to support legislation for cameras used at

traffic signalsspeeding cameras to help reduce traffic speed

81B Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Program Update

Dennis Ratcliffe Deputy Director SVRTBART Capital Program

introduced Jorge Martinez Silicon Valley Berryessa Extension (SVBX)

Project Manager Bechtel They provided a brief report on Phase I and Phase

II of the BART Silicon Valley Program

bull VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communities Update

Mr Golem and Jill Gibson Consultant provided a presentation entitled

ldquoVTArsquos BART Silicon Valley Phase II Extension Project ndash Creating

Transit-Oriented Communitiesrdquo highlighting 1) Transit-Oriented

Communities (TOCs) and Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) ndash

Defined 2) VTArsquos BART Silicon Valley and TOCs 3) TOD Strategy

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 13: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 9 of 12

Study 4) City and Agency Engagement 5) Stakeholder Engagement

6) Study Phases 7) Potential for TOD (2018-2040) 8) Study Outcome

and 9) Next Steps

Public Comment

Omar Chatty Interested City commented on the following 1) requested

staff measure the goals they are attempting to reach with the TOD 2) use

prior TOD experience to leverage a better solution and 3) evaluate

emergency services which will be necessary with the higher density

Mr Lebrun made the following comments 1) avoid Diridon Station and

2) study Stevens Creek Corridor including potential station locations

Members of the Board made the following comments 1) expressed

appreciation for staffrsquos work and 2) expressed interest in the

opportunity for increased TODs in Downtown San Jose

Board Members Diep and Peralez left their seats at 802 pm

Board Member Cortese left the meeting at 802 pm

82 Chairpersonrsquos Report

Chairperson OrsquoNeill reported on the discussions held at the February 22 2019

Board of Directors workshop on the future of transportation in Santa Clara County

Board Members Diep and Peralez returned to their seats at 807 pm

83 ITEMS OF CONCERN AND REFERRAL TO ADMINISTRATION

Board Member McAlister made the following referrals 1) referenced the ldquoPriority

Casardquo discussion noting the need to develop and lobby for a policy that ensures

transportation dollars are not shifted to housing 2) requested the ldquo2021 Proposed

Capital Projects Budgetrdquo be presented to the Board soon and 3) referenced the

upcoming Capital Projects Committee (CPC) meeting and requested project

alternatives be presented for the Eastridge to BART Regional Connector (EBRC)

project

Vice Chairperson Chavez requested staff outline the process the Board uses for

projects and include decision points made along the way

84 Unapproved MinutesSummary Reports from VTA Committees Joint

Powers Boards (JPB) and Regional Commissions

84A VTA Standing Committees

bull Capital Program Committee - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 14: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 10 of 12

bull Governance and Audit (GampA) Committee ndash The February 7 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee -

The February 21 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the

Reading Folder

bull Administration amp Finance (AampF) Committee - The February 21 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Reading Folder

bull Safety Security and Transit Planning amp Operations (SSTPampO)

Committee - The February 22 2019 Minutes were accepted as

contained in the Reading Folder

84B VTA Advisory Committees

bull Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) - The February 13 2019

Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and 2000 Measure A Citizens

Watchdog Committee (CWC) - The February 13 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) - The

February 13 2019 Minutes were accepted as contained in the Agenda

Packet

bull Committee for Transportation Mobility and Accessibility (CTMA) -

There was no report

bull Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) - The February 14 2019 Minutes

were accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

84C VTA Policy Advisory Boards (PAB)

bull Eastridge to BART Regional Connector PAB (formerly Downtown

East Valley PAB) - There was no report

bull State Route 85 Corridor PAB - The February 25 2019 Minutes were

accepted as contained in the Agenda Packet

bull Diridon Station Joint Policy Advisory Board - There was no report

84D Joint and Regional Commissions

bull Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board - The March 7 2019

Summary Notes were accepted as contained on the dais

bull Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority - There was no report

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 15: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 11 of 12

bull Dumbarton Rail Corridor Policy Committee - There was no report

bull Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) - There was no

report

bull Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority - There was no

report

bull Sunol SR 152 Mobility Partnership - There was no report

Public Comment

Mr Beekman referenced Agenda Item 84A VTA Standing Committees

specifically the CPC minutes and expressed technology concerns He also

referenced the public comments he made at the February 22 2019 SSTPO meeting

85 Announcements

Board Member McAlister announced his upcoming trip to Washington DC

Department of Transportation to discuss transportation topics

9 CLOSED SESSION

91 Recess to Closed Session at 821 pm

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

92 Reconvene to Open Session at 838 pm

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 16: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

MINUTES

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Thursday March 07 2019

Page 12 of 12

93 Closed Session Report

A Conference with Legal Counsel -- Existing Litigation

[Government Code Section 549569(d)(1)]

Name of Case Maresca v Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority et

al (Santa Clara County Superior Court Case No 17-CV-313783)

Evelynn Tran General Counsel noted no reportable action was taken

during closed session

B Conference with Labor Negotiators

[Government Code Section 549576]

VTA Designated Representatives

Alberto Lara Director of Business Services

Bob Escobar Negotiator

Raj Srinath Chief Financial Officer

Inez Evans Chief Operating Officer

Employee Organizations

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

Ms Tran noted no reportable action was taken during closed session

10 ADJOURNMENT

On order of Chairperson OrsquoNeill and there being no objection the meeting was

adjourned at 838 pm

Respectfully submitted

Anita McGraw Board Assistant

VTA Office of the Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 17: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Date April 1 2019

Current Meeting March 28 2019

Board Meeting April 42019

BOARD MEMORANDUM

TO Santa Clara Valley Transportation AuthorityCapital Program Committee

THROUGH General Manager Nuria I Fernandez

FROM Director - Planning amp Programming Chris Augenstein

SUBJECT FY2020 and FY2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal

Policy-Related Action No Government Code Section 84308 Applies No

ACTION ITEM

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

BACKGROUND

On November 8 2016 the voters of Santa Clara County approved by over a two-thirds vote Measure B a 30-year frac12 cent sales tax measure supporting transportation projects and services The 2016 Measure B lists and describes the following nine program categories and corresponding amounts

Program Category Amount (in 2017 Dollars)Local Streets amp Roads $12 Billion

BART Phase II $15 Billion

Bicycle amp Pedestrian $250 Million

Caltrain Grade Separations $700 Million

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements $314 Million

Highway Interchanges $750 Million

County Expressways $750 Million

SR 85 Corridor $350 Million

Transit Operations $500 Million

Capped at 25 of Program Tax Revenue

Young_T
Text Box
Revised Agenda 616
Young_T
Typewritten Text
Young_T
Text Box

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 18: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 2 of 8

The frac12 cent sales tax collection began on April 1 2017 The validity of the Measure was challenged in court and funds were held in escrow until January 30 2019 when all appeals were exhausted and the Measure was upheld

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs as part of its FY2018 and FY2019 budget adoption on June 1 2017 These appropriations remain available to the projects and programs and do not expire at the end of the fiscal year

FY2018 amp FY2019 Adopted 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY18 FY19Administrative Costs 330 330

Program AreaFORMULA BASED

Local Streets amp Roads 5000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1350 1350

Innovative Transit Models

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

NEED CAPACITY BASED

BART Phase II 000

Caltrain Grade Separation 700

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 630

SR 85 Corridor 1200

County Expressways 5000

Highway Interchanges 8700

Total 30886

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 19: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 3 of 8

DISCUSSION

VTA staff recommends that the Board of Directors appropriate 2016 Measure B funds for projects and programs in the following 2016 Measure B program categories for FY2020 and FY2021

Proposed FY2020 amp FY2021 2016 Measure B Budget ($ Millions)

FY20 FY21Administrative Costs 330 330

Program CategoryLocal Streets amp Roads 4000 4000

Transit OperationsEnhance Core Network 1200 1200

Innovative Transit Models 150 150

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares 250 250

Improve Amenities 130

Bicycle amp PedestrianEducationEncouragement 250

Capital Projects 1333

Planning Projects 083

BART Phase II 15000

Caltrain Grade Separation 3100

Caltrain Corridor Capacity 250

SR 85 Corridor 250

County Expressways 000

Highway Interchanges 11990

Total $44246

Administration

The VTA Board appropriated a total of $66 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budgets Of that amount $165 million was reimbursed to the Transit Enterprise fund for the cost of the ballot measure Approximately $400000 has been expended on VTA labor for development of the 2016 Measure B program since the election As the 2016 Measure B Program is in its infancy and to account for unforeseen activities staff recommends that the VTA Board continue $33 million annual appropriations for FY2020 and FY2021 for administration and oversight of the Program

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 20: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 4 of 8

Local Streets and Roads

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $90 million in the FY2018 and FY2019 budget to be distributed to the cities and the County for roadway maintenance rehabilitation and complete streets activities $40 million was allocated for each fiscal year with the remaining $10 million being an estimate for a one-time advance to be distributed to the cities and County based on collections between April 1 2017 through June 30 2017 VTA staff recommend continued appropriation of $40 million in FY2020 and in FY2021 for this purpose This would result in a total Local Streets and Roads appropriation of $170 million for the four-year period

BART Phase II

No appropriation was requested or made for FY2018 or FY2019 A total of $150 million is requested for pre-construction activities for FY2020 and FY2021

Bicycle and Pedestrian

The VTA Board appropriated $167 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommends appropriating an additional $167 million for FY2020 and FY2021 If approved the total four-year appropriation would be $333 million

Caltrain Grade Separations

The VTA Board appropriated $7 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this program category VTA staff recommend appropriating an additional $31 million for the FY2020 and FY2021 cycle This would result in a total appropriation of $38 million VTArsquos Caltrain Grade Separation Implementation Plan will require $1 million The $37 million balance will be available for cities to advance their project activities

Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements

The VTA Board of Directors approved $63 million for FY2018 amp FY2019 $20 million as part of the FY2018 and FY2019 adoption and an additional $43 million in June 2018 Of this allocation $43 million is for the locomotive overhaul capital project led by Caltrain without which increased service to South County cannot occur An additional $750000 will be used to begin a South County Rail Study that will study potential options for enhanced transit service specifically heavy rail service down to south county and will include Caltrain Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) Capital Corridor the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) the California State Transportation Agency (CALSTA) and the cities of Gilroy Morgan Hill and San Jose

The balance of the FY18FY19 allocation and a staff recommended allocation of $25 million for FY2020 amp FY2021 for work on the San Jose Diridon Station Plan brings the total appropriation of this program category for FY18 through FY20 to $88 million

Highway Interchanges

The VTA Board appropriated $87 million in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle for this

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 21: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 5 of 8

program category VTA staff are recommending an additional $1199 in appropriation for the FY2020 and FY2021 budget years Two projects in the FY2020 amp FY2021 request the US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expressway Interchange Improvements Project and the Charcot Avenue Overcrossing Project are not fully funded for construction VTA will work with the City of San Jose to secure the needed funds to complete construction Attachment A provides a complete listing of projects with currently approved and recommended additional appropriation

County Expressways

The VTA Board appropriated $50 million for Expressways in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle Implementation priorities for the program category are determined by the County of Santa Clara County Roads and Airports is currently developing an implementation plan VTA and County Roads staff agree that the existing appropriation is sufficient for activities likely to occur in the next two years The Countyrsquos priority project listing will be presented to the VTA Board at a future meeting No additional appropriation is recommended for this budget cycle

SR 85 Corridor

The VTA Board of Directors appropriated $12 million for this program in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle VTA staff are conducting a transit alternatives study for the corridor The cost to complete the study is estimated to be $14 million The remaining $106 million is allocated to the implementation of the five noise mitigation pilot projects identified by the SR85 Noise Abatement Study Once the transit guideway study is complete initial planning and feasibility analysis for the improvements that may emerge from the transit guideway study will need to be conducted VTA staff recommends $25 million for the 2020 amp 2021 fiscal years for these efforts

Transit Operations

The VTA Board appropriated $333 million for this category in the FY2018 amp FY2019 budget cycle and the Board further refined the distribution at its October 2017 meeting VTA staff recommends appropriating the same amount and continuing with the same distribution for FY2020 and FY2021

Transit Operations ($ Millions)

Previous New

Transit Operations Sub-category FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21Total FY18 -

FY21

Enhance Core Network $12 $12 $12 $12 $480

Innovative Transit $15 $15 $15 $15 $60

Expand Mobility amp Affordable Fares $25 $25 $25 $25 $100

Improve Amenities $13 $13 $26

Totals $333 $333 $666

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 22: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 6 of 8

ALTERNATIVES

The VTA Board may appropriate different amounts

FISCAL IMPACT

If the Board adopts the program as recommended $44246 million in 2016 Measure B funds will be appropriated for fiscal years 2020 and 2021

ADVISORY COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Brief discussion was had on how to access currently available funds for the Local Streets and Roads BicyclePedestrian Education amp Encouragement and Highway Interchanges Program Categories A TAC member requested that the Innovative Transit Service Models Competitive Grant Program be retroactive to include expenses beginning July 2019 should a project be awarded funding Another TAC member requested that reference to the City of Mountain View be removed from the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo as it appeared that other cities were not eligible for the proposed FY20FY21 allocation $31 million

The TAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to remove the reference to the City of Mountain View in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion in the memo

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Clarification was provided on the Noise Abatement Program in the Highway Program Category and the noise abatement pilot projects that will be constructed on SR85 A CAC member requested VTA adopt a policy to separate at-grade crossings throughout the county

The CAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item

The Bicycle amp Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) heard this item at their March 13 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Coordinate projects as best as possible to be cost effect and cause as minimal disruption as possible 2) Update on increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Request VTA to adopt a policy to separate all at-grade crossings 4) The criteria development and scoring process for the BicyclePedestrian Capital Projects Competitive Grant Program and 5) Doubling the BicyclePedestrian allocations for the early years

The BPAC with three no-votes recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with an amendment to emphasize funding for the Education amp Encouragement sub-category of the BicyclePedestrian Program Category

The Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) heard this item at their March 14 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the following 1) Why 2016 Measure B funds were being used on Caltrain locomotive overhauls 2) Schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county 3) Clarification that the Local Streets amp Roads formula would not change 4) Request that language in the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category discussion state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 be available for all three eligible cities Staff clarified to the committee that the Board of Directors approved the allocation of 2016 Measure B funds in 2018 for the Caltrain

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 23: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 7 of 8

locomotive overhaul project Staff will provide the schedule for increased Caltrain service to south county to the PAC PAC also requested a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds with expected expenditures and funding models for each program categories for future years

The PAC unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the following amendments 1) Provide a roadmap of 2016 Measure B funds 2) Clarify the Caltrain Grade Separation program category discussion to state that funds allocated for FY20FY21 are available for all three eligible cities and 3) Express the strongest opposition to using $43 million of 2016 Measure B funds for the Caltrain Locomotive Overhaul project

STANDING COMMITTEE DISCUSSIONRECOMMENDATION

The Congestion Management Program amp Planning (CMPP) Committee heard this item at their March 21 2019 meeting Discussion was had on the status and schedule of the five SR 85 Noise Abatement pilot projects A Member of the Committee requested that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised to reflect a project in their jurisdiction Staff stated that the Highway Interchange Program Category would be revised for the Board of Directors meeting as there are currently moving parts to address

The CMPP unanimously recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with the understanding that the Highway Interchange Program Category be revised

The Capital Program Committee (CPC) heard this item at their March 28 2019 meeting A committee member asked if language in the Highway Interchange Program Category section indicated that the City of San Jose would be required to fund any shortfall in construction funding for two projects Staff clarified that the board action neither required that San Jose fund any shortfall nor had VTA staff made any request of San Jose staff beyond mutual cooperation to seek funding for shortfalls Robust discussion was had on the Caltrainrsquos commitment to providing additional service to south county should the previously approved 2016 Measure B funds be used for the Locomotive Overhaul Project Staff reiterated that the Board of Directors approved the use of funds based on Caltrain JPB staffrsquos assurance that the locomotive overhaul is necessary to provide additional south county service There was additional discussion regarding the Caltrain Grade Separation Program Category This discussion centered around prioritization of these projects and ensuring that external funding be used as much as possible The Committee requested and staff provided clarification that additional funds were not requested for the County Expressway Program Category for FY20FY21 and that the County is working with staff from the various jurisdictions to develop a prioritization plan was given Finally a CPC member requested that the 2016 Measure B revenues and expenses be reviewed annually

The CPC recommended that the Board of Directors approve this item with four votes and one abstention

Prepared by Jane ShinnMemo No 6894

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 24: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Page 8 of 8

ATTACHMENTS

bull MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects (PDF)

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 25: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Proposed 2016 Measure B (MB) Highway Interchanges Program FY20 and FY21 Projects and Allocation

ATTACHMENT A DETAILED 2016 MEASURE B HIGHWAY PROGRAM BUDGET REQUEST

ID Route Project Title

Total Project Cost ($M)

A

Jurisdiction Implementing

Agency

MB FY 18 - FY 19 Appropriation

MB

FY 20 - FY 21 Request

FY 18-21 Total

A 17SR 17 SouthboundHamilton Ave Off-Ramp Widening $20 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

B 17SR 17San Tomas Expressway Interim Improvements $10 Campbell Campbell $10000 $00000 $10000

C AllHwy Transportation Operations SystemFreeway Performance Initiative Phase 1 amp 2 $540 Countywide VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

D AllNoise Abatement Program (Countywide)

$500 Countywide VTA $40000 $00000 $40000

E 280I-280Wolfe Rd Interchange Improvements

$860 Cupertino VTA $60000 $15000 $75000

F 280I-280 Northbound Second Exit Lane to Foothill Expressway $42

Cupertino Los Altos

VTA $35000 $00000 $35000

G 17Highway 17 Corridor Congestion Relief including SR 17SR 9 interchange $500 Los Gatos VTA $00000 $54000 $54000

H 152US 101SR 25 Interchange (ENVPSampE)

$650 Gilroy VTA $20000 $80000 $100000

I 101US 101Buena Vista Ave Interchange Improvements

$350 Gilroy VTA $10000 $00000 $10000

J 237Calaveras Boulevard Widening - Near-term improvements $20 Milpitas VTA $10000 $08000 $18000

K 237SR 237 Westbound On-Ramp at Middlefield Road

$500 Mt View VTA $00000 $40000 $40000

L 101US 101 Interchanges Improvements San Antonio Rd to Charleston RdRengstorff Ave $350

Palo Alto Mt View

VTA $10000 $10000 $20000

M 101US 101 SouthboundTrimble RdDe La Cruz BlvdCentral Expwy Interchange Improvements $600 San Jose VTA $40000 $350000 $390000

N 101Double Lane Southbound US 101 off-ramp to Southbound SR 87 $30 San Jose VTA $15000 $10000 $25000

O 101US 101Mabury RdTaylor St Interchange Construction $950 San Jose San Jose $20000 $00000 $20000

P 280I-280Winchester Blvd Interchange Improvements

$900 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

Q 87SR 87 Technology-based Corridor Improvements - (SB 87 Charcot On-ramp HOV Bypass) $30 San Jose VTA $10000 $17000 $27000

R 101US 101Zanker RdSkyport DrFourth St Interchange Improvements $1620 San Jose VTA $30000 $60000 $90000

S 101US 101Old Oakland Rd Interchange Improvements

$250 San Jose San Jose $10000 $00000 $10000

T 101US 101Blossom Hill Rd Interchange Improvements

$320 San Jose San Jose $40000 $241000 $281000

U 880Charcot Overcrossing

$500 San Jose San Jose $120000 $250000 $370000

V 237SR 237Mathilda Ave and US 101Mathilda Ave Interchange Improvement + follow-up Landscaping $470 Sunnyvale VTA $340000 $00000 $340000

Highway Program ManagementOversight VTA $00000 $04000 $04000

Totals $870000 $1199000 $20690

NProgrammingAndGrants2016 Measure BAdministrativeFY20FY21_BudgetCopy of Copy of Hwy_Project_List_2016_Envision Sales Tax Measure 2 year budget_Local Contribution_2020‐2021 ver8 Page 1

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 26: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Item 84D Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary

Mobility Partnership Committee Meeting Summary At its March 29 2019 meeting the Mobility Partnership Committee

bull Approved the Mobility Partnership Structure and Organization Selection of new Chair and Vice Chair o Chair - Larry Carr (City Council Member Morgan Hill Santa Clara County) o Vice Chair - Ignacio Velazquez (Mayor of Hollister San Benito County)

bull Received reports from Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and Council of San Benito County Governments (SBCOG) staff Discussed that the Mobility Partnership has focused on two

primary goals since its re-inception in 2015 1 Develop the long-term mobility plan for the area taking into account the three previous studies

as well as current plans for southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties 2 Address the existing bottleneck created by the outdated and under capacity US 101SR 25

interchange with near-term improvements that are aligned with and help facilitate the long-term

vision for the interchange as a western terminus for a new alignment of SR 152

bull Received an update the California High Speed Rail (HSR)

bull Received an update on the US 101SR 25 Interchange and Caltrans Region 4 and Region 5

bull Approved Mobility Partnership Work Plan

bull Approved the committee next meeting dates

o Wednesday September 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD o Wednesday December 11 2019 ndash morning Time and location TBD

The Mobility Partnership Committee will next meet on September 11 2019

Time and location TBD

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 27: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 836 AM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 4 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Thursday April 4 2019

UberLyft Stealing Transit Ridership (ABC 7 News)

(Link to Video)

Ridesharing services are taking a bite out of public transit on the Peninsula and in the South

Bay Ridership is down between four and five percent for both SamTrans and VTA the Valley

Transportation Authority

If ridership does continue to decline yes maybe some hard decisions will have to be made

said Dan Lieberman a media relations representative at SamTrans

Uber and Lyft may be only part of the reason for the decline

Gas prices have been historically low for the past couple of years said Brandi Childress public

affairs manager at VTA Cost of housing is driving people out of the area and youre not going

to have people taking transit back to the city They need their cars for that

To reverse the decline SamTrans is going to test its own rideshare service in a month or so in

the Linda Mar area of Pacifica It will use shuttle vans which riders can hail using a mobile

phone app SamTrans is calling this new on-demand service microtransit The fare will be

$225

The decline in ridership is not only a Bay Area phenomenon Studies are indicating its

happening across the country

To offset the decline VTAs board next month will look at eliminating low-ridership routes in

favor of boosting service on more heavily used lines On the other hand it sees a potential

boost in ridership when BART comes to San Jose at the end of the year feeding passengers

onto its bus network

Employers are also helping to support public transit as competition increases

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 28: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Usually I take public transit said Grant Southwick Its less expensive and my company pays

for it

Would-be transit riders are also being siphoned away by self-propelled modes of

transportation

We see the rise of easily rentable bikes We see scooters popping up all over the place So

change is constant said SamTrans Dan Lieberman

Change or call it disruption if you will can be challenging

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 29: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Sent Friday April 5 2019 236 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt

Subject VTA Correspondence Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Support Letter for Caltrain

Corridor Capacity Improvements

VTA Board of Directors

We are forwarding you the following

Thank you

Office of the Board Secretary

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

3331 N First Street

San Jose CA 95134

4083215680

boardsecretaryvtaorg

From Topic

VTA April 4 2019 Board of Directors Agenda Item 52 ndash

Policy Advisory Committee Meeting Summary

Rod Sinks Councilmember

City of Cupertino

Letter of Support for Caltrain Corridor Capacity

Improvements

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 30: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Item 52

Policy Advisory Committee (PAC)

Meeting Summary

On March 14 meeting the PAC

bull Recommended that the VTA Board of Directors adopt the fiscal years 2020 and 2021

Program of 2016 Measure B projects and programs

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors approve reallocation of $1035000 of Local

Program Reserve (LPR) funds from the I-880I-280Stevens Creek Interchange project to

the Silicon Valley Express Lane Program-Phase 5 project

bull Received a report on the analytical techniques used in the Fast Transit Program to

identify VTAs sources of delay

bull Received information on VTA Joint Development Program 2018 Results and A Look

Ahead for 2019

bull Recommended the VTA Board of Directors make available funds not to exceed $50000

per year from the Vehicle Registration Fee Program (VRF) for the County of Santa Clara

to maintain the Countywide Collision Database System with oversight by VTA Systems

Operations and Management Working Group

bull Received the 2000 Measure A Transit Improvement Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) Highway Program Semi-Annual Report

Ending December 31 2018

bull Received a status report on the Semi-Annual Update of Bicycle Expenditure Program

(BEP) projects

bull Received the FY2019 Second Quarter Transit Operations Performance Report and the

Programmed Projects Quarterly Monitoring Report for October - December 2018

The next PAC meeting will be held on April 11 2019 at 4 pm in the

VTA Conference Room B-106

3331 North First Street San Jose CA

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 31: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From Rod Sinks Sent Thursday April 04 2019 309 PM To VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Cc boardcaltraincom Subject VTA Board Agenda Item 616 - Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements Dear VTA Board Members Please support Caltrain Corridor Capacity Improvements in item 616 that will help expand transit ridership from south San Jose and South County and to job centers to the north We need to strengthen Caltrain as our most effective backbone transit system with more frequent service Employees at our largest tech companies have a good transit option in private buses For all the rest of us we need to create better service in our major corridors from housing-rich centers to jobs-rich centers Too many folks that make our economy work including teachers and service workers are leaving our area because they cant stand to commute from the places they can afford to live While we work to build more housing in all our cities we must also work on improving backbone transit service Thanks Rod Sinks Councilmember City of Cupertino

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 32: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary

Sent Friday April 5 2019 245 PM

To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Board Secretary

ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt

Cc Alaniz Bernice ltBerniceAlanizvtaorggt

Subject From VTA Clarification on the SF Chronicle article ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

VTA Board of Directors and VTA Advisory Committee Members The article in todayrsquos San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over financial detailsrdquo At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The Operations and

Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to meet its Revenue Service

date of late 2019 as the Board heard at last nightrsquos meeting The planned meeting between BART and

VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective staff members the opportunity reach

agreement on further details of the complex Operating and Maintenance Agreement proposed between

the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via email VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted with no suitable replacement in place For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not For questions on the Berryessa Extension please contact Bernice Alaniz BART Silicon Valley Director of Business Ops amp Communication at (408) 888-9983

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 33: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 253 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt VTA Advisory Committee Members ltVTAAdvisoryCommitteeMembersvtaorggt Subject VTA Releases Final Recommendations for 2019 New Transit Service Plan VTA Board of Directors and Advisory Committee Members Please be advised that VTA released the final recommendations for the 2019 New Transit Service Plan (Plan) The Plan will be presented to the Advisory Committees next week and the Board will consider adoption in May 2019 Please see the blog post for background information and summary of the changes httpwwwvtaorgNews-and-MediaConnect-with-VTAVTA-Releases-Final-Recommendations-for-2019-New-Transit-Service-PlanXKfMr1VKipo For questions please reply to this email Thank you Board Secretaryrsquos Office Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority 3331 North First Street Building B San Jose CA 95134-1927 Phone 408-321-5680 boardsecretaryvtaorg

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 34: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 311 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

2 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

3 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

4 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 35: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 36: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 37: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 38: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 39: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 40: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

From VTA Board Secretary ltBoardSecretaryvtaorggt Sent Friday April 5 2019 456 PM To VTA Board of Directors ltVTABoardofDirectorsvtaorggt Subject From VTA UPDATED - April 5 2019 Media Clips

VTA Daily News Coverage for Friday April 5 2019

1 Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business Journal)

2 BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle) 3 BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story) 4 Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

5 BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video) 6 VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose Spotlight)

Chances for early federal funding of BART subway look promising (Business

Journal)

The Silicon Valley Leadership Grouprsquos annual lobbying trip to Washington found positive vibes

mdash but no commitment yet mdash within the Federal Transit Administration for an early OK on the

last $15 billion chunk of funding for BARTrsquos San Jose $56 billion subway project

The agreement between the boards of BART and the Valley Transportation Authority last year

to build a unique mdash for the United States mdash single-bore tunnel beneath Santa Clara Street is

the kind of innovative program that the FTArsquos expedited project delivery pilot program for

capital grants is supposed to encourage

According to Carolyn Gonot VTAs chief engineering and program deliver officer the difference

between expedited delivery and the normal funding process is that the VTA which is applying

for the funding and is in charge of building the subway can apply sooner and receive funding

quicker The total time difference could be as much as two years which means that the long

lead time for ordering the custom-built tunnel boring machine would be easier to

accommodate

Certainty is very important to have when youre working with private-sector partners she

said

But the Trump administration has not been particularly supportive of transportation

infrastructure projects especially those in California Caltrains federal funding application was

nearly turned down just before the approval date after years of work because of a political

squabble involving high-speed rail The administrations proposed transportation infrastructure

budget for the next fiscal year is $1 billion less (19 percent) than this year but its questionable

whether Congress will accept such a reduction

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 41: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

ldquoWe had an incredibly positive hour-long session with (acting) FTA Administrator Jane

Williams and FTA Executive Director Matt Welbes along with four key members of their teamrdquo

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said in an interview

What made the discussion so positive Guardino said was the fact that the normal funding ratio

of 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent local and state funds for the subway is flipped in the

funding for the subway

Seventy-five percent of the BART project is funded from two sales tax measures passed by

Santa Clara County voters and a $750 million state grant funded from the 2017 gasoline tax

increase that passed the California Legislature

ldquoThat continues to get their attention and gain their appreciationrdquo Guardino said of FTA

officials

BART extension Itrsquos complicated (San Francisco Chronicle)

Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley Now an ongoing financial

negotiation stands in the way of the opening

The blue Milpitas sign gleams over 19 acres of former industrial hinterland mdash once a truck yard

and storage facility now a vacant steel-and-glass BART station waiting for trains to roll in

Itrsquos the first stop in a Silicon Valley extension that Bay Area residents have wanted for decades

connecting the East Bay to tech jobs and cutting through downtown San Jose where Google is

planning a huge new campus Sixteen miles of track would loop west and then north to wind up

in Santa Clara fulfilling BARTrsquos long-standing dream to build out its map in the South Bay

But the project already a year overdue is facing a complication BART and the Santa Clara

transit agency developing the extension havenrsquot agreed on how to fund the line once a sales tax

expires in 23 years

ldquoBeyond that mdash well thatrsquos what the conversation isrdquo said BART Board President Bevan Dufty

He abruptly canceled a joint meeting of the two agencies last month because they were still

bickering over financial details

BART Assistant General Manager Carl Holmes who is participating in the discussions said ldquowe

think wersquore very closerdquo to resolving the issue

Talks between BART and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority have dragged on for

weeks as staff craft an operating and maintenance agreement their board directors must sign

before opening the first segment mdash from Warm Springs to Milpitas then on to San Josersquos

Berryessa neighborhood During a recent board meeting officials said it could begin service as

soon as November but now both agencies say it will open by the end of the year

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 42: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

Meanwhile BART is waiting for VTA to finish testing the system and turn over the keys so that

BART can begin its own tests That has to happen by June for the stations to open on time

Holmes said

Commuters are getting restless

ldquoThe day before yesterday I was in downtown San Jose and my next meeting was in Oaklandrdquo

said Adina Levin a Menlo Park resident who heads the advocacy group Friends of Caltrain

Levin spent an hour and a half taking a bus from the South Bay to Warm Springs BART then

riding the train to Oakland mdash the speed and seamlessness of a single train would have been

helpful she said

The marriage between the two agencies sometimes looks like a collaboration and at other

times resembles a battle of egos Itrsquos a territorial expansion for BART and a point of pride for

VTA as reflected in the architecture Stained glass glimmers from Milpitas Station designed in a

curved pattern to resemble the Diablo foothills Berryessa Station includes a ldquocontemplativerdquo

garden

Because Santa Clara County decided not to join the BART district when it formed in 1965 the

county was left on its own to build the new track and stations and then pay BART to operate

them Officials would rely on a combination of fares and an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax that the

county began collecting in 2012 Yet the tax expires in 2042 and itrsquos impossible to predict

whether voters will approve a replacement

Bernice Alaniz (right) of the Valley Transportation Authority gives a tour of the new BART

station in Milpitas

| Gabrielle Lurie The Chronicle

The discussions have an eerie precedent that nobody wants to repeat In the late 1990s BART

partnered with the San Mateo County Transit District to build a five-stop line down the

Peninsula to San Francisco International Airport SamTrans agreed to pay for operating costs

predicting the agency would recoup all the money in fares Yet when the airport line opened in

2003 it only drew about half of the 50000 anticipated daily customers leaving a deficit of

$184 million that first year And the costs kept piling up

In 2007 BART and SamTrans parted ways Their divorce settlement gave BART custody of the

line plus $56 million in state infrastructure bond money and 2 of the annual proceeds from

San Mateo Countyrsquos half-cent sales tax which helped pay for the track to Warm Springs in the

East Bay

That bad memory hovers over the current negotiations to stretch BART into San Jose said

Santa Clara Councilwoman Teresa OrsquoNeill As chair of the Valley Transportation Authority shersquos

closely monitored the discussions

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 43: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

ldquoI heard BART had a divorce with San Mateo County and Irsquom told that may be coloring this a

bitrdquo OrsquoNeill said ldquoAnd we donrsquot want that We want a long happy marriagerdquo

One thing that BART and Santa Clara have going is a better prenuptial agreement Unlike its

South Bay neighbor Santa Clara built the tracks and stations itself It assumed all financial risk

mdash if the extension flops the only harm BART would suffer is to its public image since its logo is

painted on the train cars Another factor that could boost the projectrsquos success is Google which

could add up to 20000 jobs mdash the company encourages workers to use trains and buses rather

than drive Whereas the San Mateo County line vastly underperformed some consultants say

that the Silicon Valley BART line could exceed ridership expectations

A native of Santa Clara OrsquoNeill has waited an entire lifetime for BART to reach the South Bay

reversing the urban planning decisions of the 1960s when San Mateo and Santa Clara counties

opted to build expressways instead of mass transit

ldquoThe decision was made not to join the BART district and then the county built an expressway

systemrdquo she said

The new BART line would accelerate the next transformation which is already under way in

Milpitas Developers will add 7500 housing units around the still-empty station where

mammoth structures of wood and rebar line a once-empty skyline It adjoins the Great Mall mdash

a shopping and transit center on the site of a former Ford assembly plant mdash as well as the VTArsquos

light rail line

With so much of the regionrsquos future hanging in the balance officials are tiptoeing around the

ongoing contract talks Santa Clara transit officials say they are confident that one-eighth cent

sales tax combined with fares from an anticipated 23000 weekday riders will be enough to

cover the cost of operating the extension Yet theyrsquove also offered to supplement that money

with funding the county receives from the state Transportation Development Act which would

otherwise go to road maintenance and regional mass transit in Silicon Valley

Even so uncertainty clouds the negotiations BART hasnrsquot yet worked out a fare structure for

the new line or decided whether to add a surcharge when riders cross the border between

Alameda and Santa Clara counties mdash similar to the fee BART charges to enter San Mateo

County or to travel through the Transbay Tube Eventually both transit boards will have to

approve the operating and maintenance agreement and some directors wonrsquot sign on until

theyrsquove read the document and can stand by every line

ldquoI wouldnrsquot sign an agreement unless I was given ample opportunity to read itrdquo said BART

director Debora Allen who represents central Contra Costa county

During a recent tour of Milpitas Station officials from BART and the VTA bowed their heads

when asked about the operating agreement Some financial issues still have to be resolved said

Valley Transportation Authority spokesman Jim Lawson but Holmes declined to provide

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 44: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

specifics Both said the agencies are building consensus around the sales tax funding plan with

Transportation Development Act funds as a backup

Other challenges loom in the second phase of the project expected to break ground next year

Chief among them is the tunnel design beneath downtown San Jose While the first 10-mile

segment is either elevated or at street level the second segement will burrow underground

The two agencies agreed to a single-bore construction method rather than the more invasive

twin bore with tracks running side-by-side

The single bore plan presupposes that trains would run one atop the other mdash similar to a

double-decker freeway mdash but several board directors insist on laying tracks side-by-side

anyway That places a heavy engineering demand on the VTA

Itrsquos ldquoin the early stages of being studied for feasibilityrdquo said project spokeswoman Bernice

Alaniz

OrsquoNeill was optimistic standing on a pedestrian bridge that crosses Capitol Avenue connecting

the empty BART station to the VTA light rail

ldquoWe certainly donrsquot want to tell the public we arenrsquot going to open because we canrsquot agree on

operating things mdashrdquo she started until Lawson cut her off

ldquomdash And thatrsquos not going to happenrdquo he said

BART Extension Itrsquos Complicated (NBC Bay Area ndash repeat of Chronicle story)

(Link to video)

Lets Be Clear (VTA Headways blog)

The article in the April 5th San Francisco Chronicle titled ldquoBART Extension Itrsquos complicatedrdquo

attempts to portray the project as delayed and that BART and VTA are ldquohellipbickering over

financial detailsrdquo

At this point the project is essentially complete and is undergoing system testing The

Operations and Maintenance Agreement is not delaying project progress It is on schedule to

meet its Revenue Service date of late 2019 as the Board heard at its April 4th meeting The

planned meeting between BART and VTA Board members was cancelled to give the respective

staff members the opportunity reach agreement on further details of the complex Operating

and Maintenance Agreement proposed between the organizations

The reporter was informed that the continued VTA financial support beyond 2042 was

conceptually agreed by both parties VTA provided the reporter the following information via

email

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 45: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

VTA has a contractual obligation to continue to fund the operations maintenance and

improvements related to the BART extension into Santa Clara County and VTA would be

funding the operations maintenance and improvements related to the BART extension

primarily with 2008 Measure B tax revenues and the fare revenues on the extension

In addition if needed VTA may elect to supplement 2008 Measure B with grant revenues in

amounts that will support expenditures compliant with the grant purpose VTA would dedicate

the Transportation Development Act (TDA) revenues if 2008 Measure B expires or is exhausted

with no suitable replacement in place

For the Berryessa Extension the fares will be zone based and we donrsquot envision having a

surcharge on Phase 1 Prior to revenue service on Phase 2 ridership revenuesexpenses will be

evaluated and a determination will be made whether there should be a surcharge or not

BART Update KTVU Ch 2 (link to video)

VTA Board allocates Measure B funds to controversial San Jose project (San Jose

Spotlight)

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Board on Thursday approved $25 million in

transit Measure B funds for a controversial traffic calming project in San Jose

Critics say the Charcot Avenue Extension project which would cross over highway I-880 from

Paragon Drive to Oakland Road would endanger the safety of children at nearby Orchard

Elementary School The city plans to widen Silkwood Lane the road immediately behind the

school to act as a connector But hundreds of children cross Silkwood everyday to get to and

from school and the plan has created concern among parents

ldquoThe cars are going to go downhill on an overpass into a school crossing where we have 200 to

300 people crossing every dayrdquo said Robin Roemer a parent at Orchard Elementary School

ldquoThen there is truck traffic coming from an industrial zone in North San Jose I donrsquot even want

to think about any accident with a truck like thatrdquo

Roemer has organized a parent-led effort against the project at Orchard Last year he collected

more than 600 signatures in two weeks to halt the project and send it back for redesign

He told San Joseacute Spotlight that in addition to safety concerns parents are also worried about air

pollution noise issues and the city invoking eminent domain to take a portion of the schoolrsquos

playground for the road expansion

On Thursday morning VTA spokesperson Holly Perez said the agency was aware of the

concerns brought forward by Roemer She added that the project had been approved for fund

allocation by voters via the 2016 sales tax ballot Measure B

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 46: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary

ldquoIt is being advanced by the city through the delivery process in accordance with the Measure B

program guidelines and is included in all applicable transportation plansrdquo Perez said ldquoVTA staff

has no basis for rejecting or de-prioritizing the projectrdquo

Jessica Zenk deputy director of San Josersquos department of transportation said that the funding

from Measure B will be a key part of the project along with local transportation impact fees

Addressing safety concerns

City transportation officials said the city is trying to be thoughtful with the design when it

comes to safety and the cityrsquos commitment to Vision Zero ndash a global endeavor to reduce traffic

fatalities

ldquoWersquove taken the project and really tried to design it from the pedestrian and bike

perspectiverdquo Zenk said

She added that the project will incorporate physically protected bike and pedestrian lanes

throughout the overpass

ldquoPart of Vision Zero is to make the locations that are high fatal areas (safe)rdquo Division

Manager Zahir Gulzadah said ldquoIf you look at the crash data (the area) is not great for

pedestrians and bikes To have a facility to connect it is key for us as we work toward Vision

Zero goalsrdquo

Gulzadah and Zenk said that the city has worked with the school to address safety concerns and

is considering installing a pedestrian crossing signal Theyrsquove also offered to provide funds to

redesign the playground that will be lost to Silkwood Lanersquos widening

However Jaime Fearer deputy director of pedestrian safety advocacy group California Walks

said she doesnrsquot think the pedestrian signal is substantial enough for traffic coming off of the

bridge

ldquoWe can program signals to work differently at different times of the dayrdquo she said ldquoI would

love to see if therersquos a study of a full signal at this intersectionrdquo

California Walks recently conducted a study to help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety in

the Orchard Elementary School area The report found that from 2013 to 2017 there have been

25 pedestrian collisions ndash including three fatalities and three severe injuries Drivers not yielding

to pedestrians was the largest cause of the collision

Next steps

City officials are currently conducting an environmental review of the Charcot Avenue

extension project looking at issues such as air quality noise and land use conflicts with Orchard

Elementary School Zenk and Gulzadah said the report will be released in June followed

by community meetings

  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects
Page 47: VTA Board Secretary  Sent: Monday ...vtaorgcontent.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Site_Content/04_05.pdf · From: VTA Board Secretary
  • 616 - Revised FY 2020 and FY 2021 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal Memopdf
    • 6894 FY20FY21 2016 Measure B Program Funding Proposal
      • MT6894_AttachmentA_Proposed_FY20FY21_HwyProjects