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Agenda Item # 6

BOARD MEMORANDUM

The CDT Planning Grants are intended to prepare projects for implementation by member agencies, and to compete for VTA Livable Communities and Pedestrian Program (capital) Grants, as well as MTC Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) grants. Member agencies can apply for grants in two categories:

1)  Policy Planning Projects   that revise existing or create new policies, codes, ordinances, or enforceable design standards that encourage changes in community form that result in multi-modal, pedestrian-friendly streets and transit-oriented, compact, mixed-use developments along major transportation corridors, and core areas such as downtowns, main streets, commercial nodes, and station areas. Up to $150,000 per project will be available to assist with policy creation or revision projects. (See Attachment A for a description of the types of projects that would be considered “policy” projects.)

2)  Capital Planning Projects that integrate high-quality, pedestrian and multimodal transportation design elements into a public street, corridor, commercial node or station area. Up to $75,000 per project will be available for capital planning projects. (See Attachment A for a description of the types of projects that would be considered “capital” projects.)

On July 18, 2004, VTA issued a call for CDT Planning Grant project proposals.    Ten projects were submitted.  Projects were reviewed and evaluated by a Scoring Committee based on the policies and criteria adopted by the VTA Board on June 3, 2004.  The Scoring Committee was composed of VTA staff, Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Subcommittee members and a member of the VTA Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). 

The Scoring Committee scored the projects as shown in the following table.   VTA Staff recommend that the Board program grant funds to the four highest scoring projects. 

Previously, the Scoring Committee had included the Sunnyvale Downtown Murphy Avenue Streetscape Project as part of the approved project list.   Since that time, it has come to our attention that the project has received approval from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for funding through the TLC Program and therefore does not require funding through the CDT Planning Grant Program.

In its place, the Sunnyvale Caltrain Station North Pedestrian Access Improvements will move up above the cut-off line.   The grant amount recommended is $75,000, which is identical to the previously approved Sunnyvale Downtown Murphy Avenue Streetscape Project. 

The final project listing is shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

*The Downtown Murphy Avenue Streetscape Project has been granted funding through the MTC Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Program.

Introduction
To facilitate the objectives the Community Design and Transportation (CDT) Program, the CDT Planning Grants Program provides financial assistance to aid member agencies with planning efforts and policy development that implement the concepts, principles, practices, and actions outlined in VTA’s CDT Manual on Best Practices for Integrating Transportation and Land Use.

CDT Planning Grant Program Purpose
These planning grants are intended to help VTA member agencies, the cities, towns, and county of Santa Clara, develop, refine and build on promising ideas, and prepare those plans, projects, and policies for implementation or adoption. The process is intended to stimulate and facilitate activity at the local level, and bring together a range of community stakeholders – decision-makers, community groups, urban designers, transportation planners and engineers, and public works - to engage in collaborative "bottom-up" community planning. 

Outcomes of this planning process should be projects that are creative, employ innovative and high-quality design, improve the pedestrian environment, enhance connections with transit facilities, make better use of land, infrastructure, and resources, and/or improve community mobility, livability, sustainability, and sense-of-place. VTA is particularly interested in facilitating the development of policies, standards, codes and agency-adopted practices that promote creatively designed, multi-modal, compact, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use developments concentrated in transportation corridors and core areas. 

1.  Interconnection  - focuses on interconnecting streets, pedestrian and bicycle networks, transit modes, buildings and developments to get more from transportation resources and to form easily visualized travel routes, distinct and coherent districts, and more livable places.
2.  Place-making – focuses on the human-scale elements of the built environment that create uniqueness and identity, make places comfortable, memorable, attractive, and make walking and transit more appealing modes of travel.
3.  Access by Proximity – focuses on clustering complementary land uses and well-designed compact development to combine, reduce or eliminate trips and help achieve the kind of ‘critical mass’ that makes vibrant public life possible.
4. Choice – focuses on the notion that one-size-does-not-fit-all, and seeks to expand the range of choices about what kind of home to live in, where that home is located, the character of the community, and the means of getting around.

The CDT Program is founded on the belief that it must be implemented as part of a long-range vision that will generally be accomplished through incremental implementation strategies.  The unique and sustainable places we desire cannot evolve overnight, and implanting a single Best Practice-type project can accomplish little in the overall scheme of things.  However, the synergistic effect of consistently implementing Best Practice-type projects over time can achieve these desired outcomes.  The CDT Planning Grant Fund Program is intended to help bring about those policies, programs, and projects that work together to achieve these goals.

Who can apply?

CDT Planning Grants are awarded competitively. VTA member agencies  (the cities, towns, and county of Santa Clara) that have successfully completed the CDT Program endorsement process are eligible to apply for these funds.  Member agencies may submit multiple proposals.  All CDT Grant recipients are required to enter into a Funding Agreement with VTA to receive funding for the project. 

Grant Fund Categories
The CDT Program will award grants for two categories of planning projects: 

3)  Policy Planning Projectsthat revise existing or create new policies, codes, ordinances, or enforceable design standards that encourage changes in community form that result in multi-modal, pedestrian-friendly streets and transit-oriented, compact, mixed-use developments along major transportation corridors, and core areas such as downtowns, main streets, commercial nodes, and station areas. Up to $150,000 per project will be available for policy creation or revision projects.

4)  Capital Planning Projectsthat integrate high-quality, pedestrian and multimodal transportation design elements into a public street, corridor, commercial node or station area. Up to $75,000 per project will be available for capital planning projects.

Eligible Planning Projects

Policy Planning Projects
Eligible policy-related planning projects include:

• General Plan amendments or updatesintended to implement key concepts, principles, and practices similar to those outlined in the VTA Community Design & Transportation (CDT) Program, Manual of Best Practices for Integrating Transportation and Land Use.

• Visioning or Strategic Planning studiesthat define the future form and function of a jurisdiction or district by implementing concepts, principles, and practices similar to those outlined in VTA’s CDT Manual, with the intent to codify those changes into future plans, codes, ordinances, standards, regulations or procedures.

• Comprehensive zoning code revisionsdesigned to encourage the implementation of the concepts, principles, and practices outlined in VTA’s CDT Manual of Best Practices.

• Changes to member agency codes, ordinances, street design standards or Level-of-Service (LOS) Standardsdesigned to encourage the implementation of the concepts, principles, and practices outlined in VTA’s CDT Manual of Best Practices.

• Specific Plans, Precise Plans, Station Area Plans, or other targeted area plans that employ design standards or guidelines and involve comprehensive changes to zoning codes and ordinances for areas near transit. Areas near transit are typically defined as within 1/3 mile of a light rail, Caltrain, (future) BART station, or major bus transit/transfer facilities, although for stations having more regional significance this area may be defined as the area within ½ mile of the station.  These are plans specifically intended to implement the concepts, principles, and practices outlined in VTA’s CDT Manual of Best Practices.

• Pedestrian or Streetscape Master Plans.The plans would prepare jurisdictions to program for individual projects and move those projects into the capital planning and implementation phases.

• Urban and Architectural Design Guidelinesthat the member agency intends to adopt and incorporate through Council or Board action and use in the daily planning and development practices of the city/town/county.

• Environmental Impact Analysis and Reportwork associated with the planning projects listed above. 

Capital Planning Projects
Capital Planning Projects produce plans with sufficient feasibility analysis, scoping and design guidance to allow the member agency/project sponsor to program for the project or to apply for capital grant funds through VTA’s Livable Communities and Pedestrian Program, MTC’s Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) Capital Grant Funds or other fund sources.  All projects must have a pedestrian or transit component. Capital Planning Projects may include but are not limited to:

• Pedestrian projects such as:
  • Improved pedestrian connections with bus stops, transit centers, or train stations
  • Bus stop, transit center, or station area amenity or enhancements
  • Pedestrian over crossings and bridges
  • Pedestrian connections between transit facilities and residential areas or major activity centers
  • Sidewalk enhancements such as widening, special paving or provision of pedestrian amenities
  • Sidewalk Gap closure projects

• Streetscape/Corridor enhancements including:
  • New sidewalks
  • Sidewalk widening
  • Closing gaps in the pedestrian network
  • Street trees, landscaping, and street furniture
  • Small parks and public areas

• Pedestrian-oriented streets or alleys, plazas, paseos & pocket parks related to transit facilities or multimodal streets
  • Conversions to pedestrian only street
  • Conversions to multimodal street (e.g., sidewalk enhancements, bike lanes, and transit stop/station enhancements, and transit priority treatments)
  • Integration of small urban public spaces with surrounding uses and activities

Initial Screening Criteria

• The Project sponsor is pledging a local match amounting to at least 20% of the overall grant request. See earlier comments on cash match.
• The project sponsor is committed to begin the project immediately if the VTA Board approves the project, and the project is scheduled for completion within one-and-a-half years of VTA Board approval. 
• The project sponsor is committed to begin the project immediately if the VTA Board approves the project, and the project is scheduled for completion within one-and-a-half years of VTA Board approval.

For the purposes of this evaluation “project” relates to the planning project proposed to be funded under the Community Design & Transportation (CDT) Planning Grant Program, and "overall-project" refers to the policy, standard, guideline, ordinance, program or other implementing tool being addressed, or the implementable capital investment.

By their intrinsic nature, Policy Planning Projects and Capital Planning Projects have different objectives.  As such, separate evaluation criteria have been developed for each.

Policy Planning Project Evaluation Criteria

2. The project pertains to a major transportation corridor, core area, or station area as defined in VTA’s CDT Manual.

3. The overall-project pertains to a specific policy or policies that influence the type, location, and design quality of development in a major transportation corridor, core area, or station area.

4) The overall-project will have identifiable and likely synergistic effects; that is, the provision of one intended benefit will likely induce additional benefits. Examples include:

A. The development of policies that facilitate the development of well-designed, mixed-use, amenity-rich, compact developments with proximity to major transit facilities or multimodal streets.
B. Policies or policy changes that induce an increase in housing supply or employment densities in the project area that in turn encourage transit, bicycling, and pedestrian trips
C. Changes to General Plans to allow for more compact, amenity-rich, pedestrian-oriented development
D. Council/Board adopted architectural or urban design guidelines that stimulate high-quality transit-and pedestrian–oriented design in the identified core, corridor and station areas.

5. Does the project codify CDT-like principles in the member agency’s guiding policies for land use, transportation, housing and urban form as expressed in its General Plan?

6. The project supports other efforts adopted by the member agency to create well-designed, compact, amenity-rich developments that encourage transit use and walking.

7. The project is intended to result in changes that will enable the implementation of projects or recommendations that result in well-designed, compact, amenity-rich developments that encourage transit use and walking.

8. The extent to which the project sponsor commits to pursuing the project recommendations, including subsequent planning, community involvement, or programming activities, and to pursue the overall-project to the greatest extent feasible.

9. Project Innovation and Creativity. To what degree does the project set standards or policies that encourage design practices as called for in the CDT program? To what degree does the project demonstrate innovation in project purpose, approach, or community involvement techniques?  To what degree does the project approach differ from that of other candidate projects?

10. Project Need & Significance:

A. Project Need. Can the project proceed without the CDT Planning Grant award? Does the project complete a critical path step needed before other projects can proceed?

B. Project Significance. How significant is the overall impact of the project to the member agency? Does the project establish a new direction within the jurisdiction regarding transit integration and/or pedestrian and transit friendly development?

Capital Planning Project Evaluation Criteria

1. The project supports the key concepts and principles outlined in Chapters 1 and 2 of VTA’s Community Design & Transportation Program (CDT) Manual of Best Practices for Integrating Transportation and Land Use. Please provide a list of the Key Concepts and Principles the project addresses and a brief description of how the project fulfills those concepts and principles.

2. The project pertains to a major transportation corridor, core area, or station area as defined in VTA’s CDT Manual?

3. The project relates to a physical setting where deficiencies exist, or are expected to exist, that if corrected will provide significant community benefit (e.g., enhanced walkability; safety and security; traffic calming; enhanced economic activity; protection of community heritage, historic, or environmental resources; public transit access or amenity; parking design, streetscape design; gap closure of an essential pedestrian/bicycle route or network, and access to services that meet daily needs.)

4. The project pertains to a defined physical location - or – the project pertains to a specific type (function), location, and quality of development.

5. The overall project will have identifiable and likely synergistic effects; that is, the provision of one intended benefit will likely induce additional community benefits.

6. The project involves a collaborative planning process with community stakeholders (e.g., residents, businesses, property owners, local agencies, neighborhood associations, the project sponsor(s) and the member agency(s).

7. The project is in an infill, brownfield, or redevelopment area, or addresses specific urban design goals established by the member agency.

8. The project will result in a discrete and clear work product, which will guide the overall project to the next level of development, and/or form the basis to compete for funding for the overall project.

9. Project Innovation and Creativity. To what degree does the project set standards or policies that encourage design practices as called for in the CDT program? To what degree does the project demonstrate new ideas in project purpose, approach or community involvement techniques?  To what degree does the project approach differ from that of other candidate projects?

10. Project Need & Significance.

A. Can the project proceed without the CDT Planning Grant award? Does the project complete a critical path step needed before other projects can proceed?

B. Project Significance. How significant is the overall impact of the project to the member agency? Does the project establish a new direction within the jurisdiction regarding transit integration and/or pedestrian and transit friendly development?

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