RTC Report 4, February 7, 2008:

Finally, the RTC recommends against placing a Sales Tax Ballot Measure on the November 2008 election ballot.

In other actions, the Commissioners, concerned about cost overruns for the preparation of the Highway 1 EIR, demanded greater transparency for this process, and adopted a Regional Transportation Improvement Program for 2008-2013.

In a momentous action—at times remarkably theatrical—the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), at its regular meeting on February 7 in Watsonville, voted against placing a Transportation Sales Tax Ballot Measure on the November 2008 election ballot.

On the vote, only 4 of the 12 Commissioners (Campos, Beautz, Rivas and Hagen) voted to adopt the set of recommendations prepared by Commission staff; those recommendations would have moved forward the process for placing a measure on the ballot. The Staff Report, including the related recommendations that were turned down, is available here, while the full agenda, with links to reports and attachments, is available here (see Item 24).

At the start of the process, Commissioner Mark Stone took the lead by suggesting that a vote first be taken on just the 3rd of the staff's six recommendations, which would simply have requested that the Board of Supervisors place a 35-year, ½-cent transportation funding sales tax measure on the November 2008 ballot to fund the expenditure plan approved by the RTC. He issued a warning, however, by saying “I think we're really setting us up for failure”.

Lengthy discussion ensued, during which Commissioner Pirie said “I don't think [the ballot measure] will pass. We have been advised by [consultant] Eileen Goodwin that in order to pass, it must have (a) broad support, (b) no organized opposition, and (c) a body to fund the campaign. We don't have any of those three.” Also earlier, during the public testimony, former Santa Cruz County Republicans chair Vic Marani stated that the Republican Party would be opposed to the proposed ballot measure.

In the end, the definitive vote was taken on a motion by Commissioner Rivas as amended by Commissioner Beautz, which was to approve the Staff recommendations 2 through 6 (leaving out the first recommendation dealing with greenhouse gas emissions reduction language). Those opposing moving forward were Commissioners Bustichi, Spence, Coonerty, Johnson, Pirie, Nicol, Stone and Reilly.

A further motion by Commissioner Nicol, to “try to do something in November 2008”, failed to pass, on a very close vote of 6 “yes” and 6 “no”. Nicol had spoken earlier in favor of offering voters a “split ticket”—one ¼-cent sales tax for Highway 1 widening, and one ¼-cent tax for all the other projects in the proposed Mobility Plan. Had Nicol's motion passed, the Commission would have no doubt continued to use its semi-monthly meetings to prepare ballot measure(s).

Executive Director George Dondero was likely discouraged by the result, since at the start of the discussion he said, “I'd like to see a unanimous vote [supporting] the staff recommendation”, and perhaps even expected such a vote.

Commissioners express concern regarding the large (40%) cost overruns for the preparation of the EIR for the Highway 1 HOV Lane Widening Project

Near the start of the meeting, a lengthy presentation was made by consultant Chris Metzger (for Nolte Associates), in which he presented detailed explanations for the high cost (nearly $11 million now, up from the originally budgeted $7.8 million) of the “Project Approval/Environmental Document (PA/ED)” for the Highway 1 HOV Lane Widening Project. (see the staff report here, and the Nolte memorandum here; this is item 21 on the agenda.)

There were many apparent inconsistencies and many questions were asked. In an effort to ensure that the Commission would not be confronted with such embarrassments in the future, Commissioners asked to be kept better informed regarding any changes in the costs for the PA/ED process. In the end, the Commission, having no alternative, merely accepted the report.

Meanwhile, many of us dreamed of how such millions might otherwise be more fruitfully allocated, instead of being frittered away toward a costly widening project that seems unlikely to be built in our lifetimes.

It was brought out, following questions from the public, that the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) is scheduled to be released for public comment in July 2008. The Commissioners had earlier requested that the public be allowed a mere 30 days to comment on the DEIR, but it was stated by Commissioner Krumholz (non-voting Caltrans representative) that a comment period of 45 to 60 days was more appropriate for a project of this magnitude. Commissioner Stone asked whether it could be 90 days, since it will be a very lengthy and complex document, but Commissioner Krumholz did not commit to such a comment period.

RTC approves staff-recommended Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP)

In the third key item on the agenda (Item 22), the Commission adopted the 2008 Regional Transportation Improvement Program, which is a prioritized list of projects wished to be funded using State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funds. Approximately $5.5 million is expected to be available for the coming year; the RTIP is a list of wished projects over the next five-year period.

The largest funding request for the coming year provides an additional $1,375,000 to cover the cost overruns in the EIR process for the Highway 1 widening project described above.

Highway 1 widening continues to receive top priority for funding

The RTC still holds Highway 1 widening as it top priority project, and is not constrained from seeking construction funds from any possible sources, and is not constrained from placing a transportation sales tax measure on the ballot for some future election, perhaps as early as 2010.

Furthermore, the Highway 1 Auxiliary Lanes project, which would widen the highway from Morrissey Boulevard to Soquel Drive, has been promised funding, and is now in the EIR process with a Draft EIR due to be released for public comment this summer. This would be the second phase of Highway 1 widening, extending the “Merge Lanes” Project (now under construction) southward for about one mile, at a cost of over $20 million. Funding for similar widening projects to the south is being pursued.

Take action: Attend the RTC's next Transportation Policy Workshop meeting

The next meeting of the Regional Transportation Commission will take place on Thursday, February 21, starting at 9:00 a.m., at the Commission offices at 1523 Pacific Avenue (above Chefworks). The agenda for this meeting should become available after February 15 right here. These Workshop meetings are held in an informal setting, and are often where key issues are decided. Anyone is invited to attend.