Council Memo

Subject: Rogue Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (RVMPO Boundary Expansion

Dept: Public Works Department
Date: November 6, 2.002 - Study Session
Submitted By: Paula Brown
Approved By: Brian Almquist

Synopsis:
The 2000 census codified and subsequently redefined urban areas. As such, the existing "Medford" urbanized area grew and now extends to Ashland and Jacksonville to be designated as a Transportation Management Area (TMA). Our expanded urbanized area (UZA) has grown to be 128,780  2000 census figures) population. Based upon federal regulations, the new UZA designation requires hat the current Rogue Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (RVMPO) expand it's boundaries to em er the entire area that is anticipated to become urbanized within the next 20 years. This allows transportation planning to be accomplished in total, and includes the ak quality determinations for our area. It is the MP3's policy to develop continuing, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning processes that ;onsider all transportation modes that support the regional system. Formal designation of the revised boundaries and new MPO boundaries is recommended by the MPO Policy Committee, approved by the GOvernor then accepted by the Federal Highway Association (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Authority (?TA)

Recommendation:
This is an informational item only. The Rogue Valley Council of Governments is the designated support arm for the RVMPO and RVCOG staff will make a presentation to the City Council. Decisions and actual approvals will come back to Council at a later time.

Fiscal Impact:
There are two levels of fiscal impact. The first is the "Discretionary" STP (Surface Transportation Program) Funds. The State splits its federally allocated STP funds with all MPOs and cities with populations over 5,000. For the past several years, Ashland has been eligible for over $100,000 a year in STP funds. Typically Council would authorize a fund exchange for these funds so that the dollars couh go to a variety of City street projects.

In the past these funds came directly to the City of Ashland to fund eligible projects (such ts Sherman and Union Streets, and recently the new Water Street Bridge). Now, as a part of a larger MPO Ashland would compete internally for these funds. The MPO's current STP Funding Policy states that the STP dollars will be rotated through the MPO jurisdictions as appropriate. This policy statement does not seem to be well defined and perhaps there should be specific criteria developed for worthy projects. Perhaps the State or FHWA has guidelines for the distribu!ion of these funds and a standard set of criteria for project funding. Rotating project dollars does not provide a strong sense of project merit. Staff understands that the MPO has already allocated the next 10 years worth of STP dollars. If this is the case, then it would seem appropriate to allocate individual amounts to new cities joining the MPO for the same amount of time. In any event, STP allocations and funding levels for the new members' needs to be reviewed and better managed.

In addition to the STP funds, the City of Ashland will be required to pay MPO membership dues to RVCOG. Currently the RVCOG charges membership dues dependent upon population. The 2001-02 dues were a total of $19,261 with Medford paying $8,465 and Jackson County paying $3,265. The remaining dues were split between RVTD, Central Point and Phoenix. It is anticipated that the City of Ashland would pay a similar amount as the County for the annual MPO membership service dues to the RVCOG. RVCOG is responsible to provide transportation planning, transportation project planning and implementation, transportation modeling with ODOT, public involvement and air quality conformity determination.

Background:
The expansiOn of the MPO boundaries has been anticipated for the past several years. Even so, there are still many unknowns as the organization changes. The primary concerns stem from dollars and equality, which are very "normal" under the circumstances. Each agency will need to process the changes and feel comfortable that their individual needs are taken into account as these policies are rewritten.

The MPO Policy Committee is considering granting voting status to incoming member cities prior to formal recognition of the new organization. This would help significantly in the progress toward a good working relationship and in the establishment of new criteria and policy for funding transportation projects.

Attached is a summary of issues prepared by the RVCOG. Their Transportation Manager will be here to make a presentation at the Study Session.

RVMPO_Boundary_Expansion.pdf (1163.6KB)

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