Report 10, on RTC meetings of August 7 and August 21, 2008:
(You may post comments on this report on our blog page.)
The RTC took significant action related to the upcoming acquisition of the Rail Corridor. Also reported here are updates relating to Highway 1 widening projects, and (briefly) on the status of SB 375.
At the regular meeting on August 7 in Scotts Valley:
RTC and Union Pacific agree on a price for the rail corridor!
During a closed session held after adjourning the public portion of the meeting, the Commission reached a long-awaited agreement with Union Pacific to purchase the 32-mile rail corridor from Watsonville to Davenport, for $14.2 million. Commission staff hopes to conclude further diligence and transaction steps to finalize the purchase by the end of 2008. This agreement was not part of the public meeting; the purchase acreement was made known to us the next morning in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. A summary provided by the RTC appears here.
Progress on the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network:
The RTC unanimously voted to release a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network Master Plan and Program Level Environmental Review. A staff report by RTC staff member Cory Caletti provides a good summary. Proposals are expected to be received by September 26, 2008. The MBSST is envisioned to include our long-desired Rail Trail, a bicycle and pedestrian path lying mainly within the rail corridor.
Cory (who is an avid bicyclist and also staffs the RTC's Bicycle Committee) will be coordinating the process, for which the Commission has allocated an initial budget of $250,000. The planning will include preliminary engineering. Federal and locally-controlled funds have been committed for the development of this project.
Highway 1 Projects:
A staff report on Highway 1 projects is available here, and a report from Chris Metzger of Nolte Associates (consultants for Highway 1 projects) is available here.
RTC staff member Kim Shultz anticipates a mid-September public release of environmental documents and project plans for the Highway 1 Soquel/Morrissey Auxiliary Lanes Project. [Note: This release is now delayed until October—see our Report 11 on the September 4 meeting.]
Following the release of the documents there will be a 30-day period of public review. This will be an important time for the Campaign for Sensible Transportation and others to challenge the anticipated conclusions of the study, including the conclusions that vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gases will be reduced by the project, and that there are no potentially cumulative impacts.
Surprisingly, no EIR is being prepared for this “Auxiliary Lanes” project, although we believe one is required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Instead an Initial Study/Environmental Assessment, along with a proposed Negative Declaration will be circulated to the public, since Caltrans believes that no significant impacts are anticipated for the proposed project.
We reported previously on the Auxiliary Lanes Project in our RTC Action Report Nos 7 and 8.
For the High-Occupancy Vehical (HOV) Lanes Project, which would widen Highway 1 to eight lanes (including auxiliary lanes) from Morrissey Blvd. to Freedom Blvd., RTC staff anticipates public release of the Draft EIR in Winter 2008/2009.
At the transportation workshop meeting on August 21:
Senate Bill 375:
RTC staff reported that California State Senator Darrell Steinberg's bill SB 375 (linking greenhouse gas reduction to transportation planning) was further amended on August 18, which did not include some revisions that the RTC had requested. [Note: SB 375 has now passed both the Assembly and the Senate following additional weakening amendments that would appear to exempt transportation tax measures passed by 2010. This lengthy and complex bill now awaits Governor Schwarzenegger's signature.]
Rail corridor acquisition update:
The RTC discussed and accepted RTC staff member Luis Mendez's status report (available here) on the acquisition of the rail corridor from Union Pacific. A timetable of remaining “due diligence” and other tasks may be found here. Additional updates may be found in our Report No. 11 on the RTC's September 4 meeting.