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Home My WebLink About8.3 Regional Rail Plan Committee CITY CLERK File # D[][][o]-~~ AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: April 18, 2006 SUBJECT: Participation in Policy and Technical Committees for the Development of the Regional Rail Plan Report Prepared bV' Melissa Mor/on, Puhlic Workl Director ATTACHMENTS: Correspondence from Livermore Mayor, Marshall Kamena RECOMMEN DATION: ~ Receive and accept correspondence and designate Mayor Lockhart ~ as the City of Dublin Representative to the Policy Connnittee l<'INANCIAL STATEMENT: There is no llnancial impact to the City of Dublin. DESCRIPTION: In an effort to reach regional consensus Livermore Mayor, Marshall Kamena, is asking that the City of Dublin participate in both a Policy and a Technical Committee to provide regional input and advocacy with regard to the Regional Rail Plan (RRP). In his leiter, Mayor Kamena suggests that only three meetings will be necessary to respond to the RRP's request to identify the area's transportation vision, key environmental concerns, and criteria used to evaluate alternatives; review RRP proposed alternatives; and review the draft final report recommending transit priorities for our area. Staff recommends that the Council receive and accept the correspondence and designate Mayor Lockhart as the City of Dublin Representative to the Policy Committee for the Regional Rail Plan. ._~~----------------------------------------------------------_._~._--_._~----------------------------------- COpy TO: City of Livennore ITEM NO. B.? Page I of I O:\AGENMlSC\Regional Rail Plan. doc I I I o~ 2 LIVE~~~ AprilS, 2006 RECLiVED CITY OF CUBLIN Richard Ambrose, City Manager City of Dublin 100 Civic Plaza Dublin, CA 94568 J\I'! 'f II ~ CITY MANAGER'S OFF/G!;; Dear City Manager Ambrose, Thank you for your cooperation on developing a consensus for federal transportation earmarks for our area, The City of Livermore has revised the transportation earmark proposal we originally submitted to reflect Congresswoman Tauscher's concerns that the monies be spent "on the ground" rather than for further studies. The revised proposal requests funds for signal preemption, queue jumps and intersection modifications to support rail emulation (Bus Rapid Transit) from Livermore's downtown ACE Station to the PleasantonlDublin BART Station Livermore would appreciate your continued efforts to create consensus on transportation issues affecting the area through participation in the new Regional Rail Plan study The Regional Rail Plan study is being conducted by MTC and will be establishing regional transit priorities for the next 50 years. It includes consideration of High Speed Rail Corridors from Sacramento to San Jose and beyond, as well as ACE train upgrades, BART extensions and other transit opportunities. The Regional Rail Plan Commission and the High Speed Rail Commission staffs have asked us to form Regional Rail Plan policy and technical committees to provide them with better area-wide coordination on this study They are using this same approach to coordinate with the City and County of San Francisco and its various transit operators. We suggest that the committees consist of representatives from the cities of Danville, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Tracy as well as Alameda and San Joaquin Counties, BART and LAVTA. We expect the policy committee to meet three times during this process. The initial meeting will bring everyone up to speed on the Regional Rail Plan (RRP), and respond to the RRP request to identify the area's transportation vision, key environmental concerns, and criteria used to evaluate alternatives. The second meeting will review the RRP proposed alternatives. A third meeting will review the RRP draft final report recommending transit priorities for our area. The technical committee will meet as needed to review work products and discuss technical issues with the RRP staff. The Regional Rail Plan study is currently moving forward The RRP staff has asked to organize the committees as soon as possible so they can meet their timelines for completing the study City Ilall 1052 South Livermore Avenue Livcr11.lotl,:~1 CA Y4'1iO www.cLlivcnnOIl.:.ca. U::I '6. ~ 4-/I'5/0h < April 5, 2006 :..- 01-'2. Livermore is willing to take the lead and organize the times and locations for these meetings. The first policy committee meeting will be scheduled in April. Please let Daniele Smiley know by April 15th at ddsmilev@ci.livermore.ca.us, if you are interested in participating, and, who you plan to appoint as your policy and technical representative. Our region has benefited in the past from developing consensus on tough issues like transportation and affordable housing opportunities. Developing a regional consensus would increase our chances to improve mobility in our region and make us more competitive for future state and federal funding. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to a successful process. Sincerely, Marshall Kamena, Mayor City of Livermore cc: Mayor. and Town Manager, Town of Danville Mayor and City Manager, City of Dublin Mayor and City Manager, City of Pleasanton Mayor and City Manager, City of San Ramon Mayor and City Manager, City of Tracy County Supervisor and County Administrator, Alameda County County Supervisor and County Administrator, San Joaquin County Chair and General Manager, Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority Distribution: Zoyd Luce, BART Director Tom Margro, BART General Manager Maryann Payne, BART Planning Manager John Fischer, BART Government Affairs Officer Steve Hemminger, MTC Executive Director Tom Matloff, Regional Rail Plan Don Levitt, High Speed Rail Commission Dennis Fay, Alameda County CMA Cheri Sheets, City Engineer Bob Vinn, Senior Transportation Engineer Marc Roberts, Community Dev Director Daniele Smiley, Engineering Division Clerk