TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Michael A. Hursh, General Manager/Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: Quarterly Report on District Involvement in External Planning Processes
BRIEFING ITEM
AGENDA PLANNING REQUEST: ☐
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider receiving the Quarterly Report on the District’s involvement in external planning processes.
Staff Contact:
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
Goal - Strong Public and Policymaker Support
Initiative - Service Quality
External planning activities develop public and policymaker support by facilitating dialogue and consensus between cities, AC Transit, and other stakeholders about their proposals affecting transit. The District’s participation in these activities is generally designed to improve or maintain service quality. Proposals by cities and other entities can improve operating conditions for AC Transit service or degrade them if not monitored closely.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct budgetary/fiscal impact associated with this report.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
AC Transit’s operations and service are affected not just by our own planning, but also by the planning of governmental agencies at multiple levels-state, regional, county, and city. Our district includes 13 cities and portions of 2 counties. Actions of these agencies can affect AC Transit positively or negatively in funding, policymaking, roadway design, transit performance and land use. Therefore, the District seeks to monitor and affect other agencies’ plan-making on an ongoing basis. Resources permitting, the District seeks to take an active role in these planning processes. Activities include participating on Technical Advisory Committees, submitting comments on plans, designs and other documents, submitting letters and speaking before staff and governing bodies.
This report summarizes transportation and land-use planning processes led by these other agencies, which affect AC Transit. It focuses primarily on long-range planning activities rather than project-level implementation. A list and summary of these planning processes is included as Attachment 1. The report covers planning activities from November 2022 through January 2023.
Planning activities in late 2022/early 2023 continued to be conducted primarily on-line, However, state level permission to conduct online only public meetings is anticipated to end on February 28. Many agencies are planning to hold public meetings as hybrids, allowing both in person and on-line participation.
PLANNING PROCESSES AT OR NEAR KEY POINTS.
This section of the report lists planning processes which are reaching or have reached key points in their development. These are plans which have been recently approved, or approval dates are within the next quarter, or are expecting to undertake outreach in the next quarter. Further detail about these plans is found in Attachment 1 - the plan tracker.
Plans Approved November 2022-January 2023. Generally, there will be no further action on these plans themselves, unless the approving agency creates a post-approval process. Implementation will be through separate processes:
• Housing Element of the Oakland General Plan-City Council approved for submittal to the state Department of Housing and Community Development on January 31, 2023, also created further process for Council and Planning Commission consideration of amendments to Element. Development of other Elements of the General Plan is ongoing.
• El Cerrito San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Update-Approved by City Council on December 6,2022
• City of Alameda Active Transportation Plan-Approved by City Council on December 20,2022
• City of Alameda Grand Street Rehabilitation Plan-Approved by City Council on November 1,2022
Plans Scheduled for Action/Approval February - April 2023
• Metropolitan Transportation Commission Regional Network Management Proposal - Scheduled for approval by the Commission on February 22. Implementation plan to follow.
• Berkeley Transit First Policy Update - Scheduled for February 28 City Council meeting
• City of Alameda Clement St./Tilden Way Project -Scheduled for March 7 City Council meeting
• Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) West County Action Plan - Scheduled for February 23 meeting of the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Commission (WCCTAC), to be followed by submission to CCTA Board.
Plans scheduled for Outreach, February - April 2023
• Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) San Pablo Avenue Multimodal Corridor Plan, Oakland-Emeryville-South Berkeley segment
• BART Berkeley-El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan (BECCAP)
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES:
External planning processes provide AC Transit with opportunities to influence decisions by cities, counties, and other agencies that affect roadway design, transit, and land use. In addition, our participation ensures transit service plans can anticipate and adjust to meet the needs of the community.
The disadvantage is that participation in external planning processes can be time-consuming with no guarantee of positive results for the District.
ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS:
Because this report does not recommend an action, there is no alternatives analysis.
PRIOR RELEVANT BOARD ACTION/POLICIES:
Board Policy 522 - Policy for Transit-Oriented Development and Transit-Supportive Land Use.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. External Planning Tracker
Prepared by:
Nathan Landau, Senior Transportation Planner, Long Range Planning
Approved/Reviewed by:
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Robert del Rosario, Director of Service Development and Planning
Claudia Burgos, Director of Legislative Affairs & Community Relations
Beverly Greene, Executive Director of External Affairs, Marketing & Communications