e e e e e e e e e e e like at a public event I have Ricky whistle or something to get everybody's attention I don't seem like I I am able to um but um chair McDonald is not here today um um and um commissioner Smith has let me know that he is running late so I have asked if it's okay with you all since we do have a quorum If U mayor Susan Gibbs Thomas can open the meeting and then um and then when um commissioner Smith gets here then he can take over chairing the meeting if that's okay okay where we go okay good morning good morning ladies and gentlemen welcome to this uh meeting of the Martin County um Metropolitan planning organization if we could do we have Pastor Jim harp this this morning if we all could stand for the prayer and stay standing for the Pledge of Allegiance Our Father we thank you for this day this beautiful day that you've given us and uh thank you for the beginning of a new week uh beginning of a new opportunity to look to you and and seek you and and Lord I Thank you for this privilege of coming uh here this morning to pray uh your word tells us uh in the book of Philippians to uh in everything with prayer and Thanksgiving uh by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let our requests be made known to you so Lord I usually always begin with Thanksgiving being opening with a thankful heart and I thank you for each of these father that you have placed in positions of authority and those that work for this County uh whose livelihood is made uh by representing your people uh here in this community Lord and I ask this morning especially for your blessing upon them I ask for your blessing upon this meeting today to give direction and guidance Lord and the decisions that will be made the uh topics under consideration today Lord that affect all of us and so Lord I just ask you to bring peace I ask you to guide and direct the hearts of each one uh Lord as you've told us to that you would and you've told us in your word to pray for those in authority over us and so whether we agree with them or not it doesn't matter we are still supposed to pray and lift them before you so I do that today father and I thank you for answering prayer I thank you for being with us Lord and I thank you so much for this opportunity to recognize that uh in this County Lord and so bless I pray in Jesus name today amen amen PL United States of America and to the repblic it stands one nation indivisible and justice thank you if we could have roll call please here good morning here here here Council m here okay moving right along do I have a motion to approve the agenda as is they moved second we have a motion with uh I want to say council member commissioner heatherington seconded by commissioner herd any comments any public comments all in favor passed unanimously do we have a motion to to approve the minutes approve motion has been made by commissioner Jenkins thank you got to make sure I get my titles right a second has been made by commissioner heatherington is there any comments public comments all in favor pass unanimously moving on to comments from the public we have one this morning we have doy Lancy welcome morning morning everybody good to see you again um I'm here this morning on behalf of hippie it's the Hutchinson Island preservation initiative and am I being heard um anyway um the organization was founded um about 5 years back for the um purpose of preserving and protecting the natural beauty of Hutchinson Island and um so that um I'm here to make you aware of a project a road project that is happening with epot that um is going to take place I guess in 19 or in 2025 and uh they are going to repay A1A between uh the two um the two causeways that go over to the island and um I wanted to make you aware of our involvement in it uh we have been um working with fot as we did when we were originally organized um we were originally organized uh because of a Paving project that required a lot of lighting over there that the residents were opposed to and it was determined at that time that it the lighting wasn't necessary and we were able to um we were able to uh keep the am Ambience of the island there in the um as as people wanted it uh right now we've been working with fot and they've been very very Cooperative with us they've shared what theyve their plans are and um in the preliminary stages now uh they did have a roundabout proposed in front of the Hutchinson Island Resort which was um something that the residents did not really want and um uh working with fot and and um so forth we were able to um have that removed from the plans uh we did not get the lighting design until relatively recently um I sorry I didn't I only had three minutes but we are working on that with them and we wanted to let you know of our involvement and our opposition to um excess lighting over there at this time if you did not see the article in the um Palm Beach post it was published in uh on April the 18th I would refer you to that and it was also I guess in the steuart news but only on the um on the online it wasn't it wasn't published it was just online but um it it um gives a summary of what we our position thank you for the opportunity this morning good to see you again thank you no other comments moving on to our agenda items a agenda item 8A the final draft for the transit development plan um yes this is coming back to you um for review and approval the final draft of the transit development plan or TDP Lucy Martins is the m project manager for this project so I'll let her talk a little bit about it and introduce the consultant that'll give you all a presentation good morning everyone um I just want to remind everyone that this is a living document that empowers the Transit Agency to continue to incorporate Community needs and adapt if new priorities emerge or New Opportunities emerge and you'll hear Jeff Weidner present and he'll mention opportunities a lot during his presentation we also have Jessica Mackie from kson Associates thank you Lucine thanks for so good morning um Jeff Winer Marlin engineering I just want to refresh you the uh Transit development plan is part of a a requirement of the Florida State block grant operating funds for Transit agencies every five years you're asked to do a refresh and develop a 10-year plan uh and this is the major update to your 2019 uh Transit development plan uh the scope of work we're at plan adoption now um we've been through the first six tasks and we we came and presented to you that document uh and now we have the draft plan in your agenda package and we're here today to present to you some of the previous material but the recommended plan and how to move forward in the next five years uh just uh briefly the existing Marty system uh it's it's a linear system pretty much focused on US1 uh with a loop and the Stewart area and then an extension to Indian town and also you have a the 20x it's an express route that connects uh Stewart to uh West Palm Beach and the Veterans Administration Medical Center uh five routes your major routes are uh Route One running on 35 minute headways Monday through Friday that's replicated for route two uh the route two goes back and forth to Indian Town once every hour and a half and then it loops around The Village uh Route 3 40 minutes 60 minutes and then route 20x varies during the time of the day all routes are Monday through Friday uh public involvement um at the scoping meeting uh we were directed to have a minimum of one Outreach event in each of the commission districts we did not do traditional public meetings we'll be here come we will speak to you we went out to events uh we were Outdoors at Jensen Beach we were between the Publix and the event we met quite a few people that were tourists uh and snowbirds uh we went to the Golden Gate Cassidy Center met a lot of parents and children uh we went to Indiantown it was a cold and rainy day but we got some quality time with the Marty operator um and commissioner Gibbons I'm sorry Gibbs Thomas I'm sorry uh went uh hound and the banner Lake Community Center and uh the morgade library and then again to the Julie Peter and Julie Cummings Library uh in Palm City uh our survey we obtained 732 surveys which we felt was a good uh cross-section of the community and oops Ricky what did I do were on the Noe next there we go thank you um so I want to bring up Jessica Macky now she's going to talk about the transit Gap analysis and then go through the strategies that we looked at and then the recommended plan hello good morning so um many of you may have already seen this slide but as a refresher um to identify the transit needs we did a review of the prior plans that have been done before this um and then we also identified areas with a high concentration of trips and a high proportion of Transit dependent populations like zero car households households living under poverty older adults and disabled adults and the areas in yellow signify the transit gaps that lie outside of a quarter mile of the existing Marty bus stops moving on to planning strategies we developed four strategies to increase ridership the first scenario is the lowc cost scenario these are improvements that could be made in the short term for little to no cost we also have scenarios for expanding the service span adding bus stops and an aspirational network with M microtransit and each of these strategies had several Alternatives within them that we costed and rank to help us develop the recommended plan so scenario one that's our lowcost scenario the first thing we'd like to do a comprehensive operational analysis that would have better bus schedules that are coordinated with each other um that'll increase inconvenience for the Riders when they're transferring to different buses targeted marketing campaign we'd like to um invest more money into marketing um we'd also like to leverage South Florida commuter services to help get the word out about the service and improve ridership we propose route two be extended to go from the Robert morgade library to the Walmart um to the Walmart that's in Stewart that's the green dotted line which is an important destination for Indiantown residents and splitting route three to two circulators would better service several important destinations within Stewart like the Cleveland hospital um the Golden Gate C the health department and the high school and also Walmart which would allow for more transfer connections to Route One for 20x and Route two should it get it extended the third route Improvement um would be extending route 20x to the Tri Rail station in mangonia park Route 4 currently has um and for Route 4 it currently has limited stops and Crossing opportunities on US1 so we think conver in it to a flex route would more effectively service this service area and added bonus is that Flex routes are not required to provide Ada pair Transit service so there are potential cost savings there for scenario two we looked into adding weekend service and later service we explor different ways to add more service including using Transportation networking companies in 2022 Marty's cost per trip uh for local fixed routes was 2670 um should the so if we wanted to to implement something like microtransit with branded vehicles um we could be looking at roughly ,550 per trip uh we also looked into doing later service um so we propose for Route four extending it to 8:00 pm since today the last trip leaves at 5:00 p.m so we think prioritizing later service for Route 4 would be the best approach and we just want to share with you some examples of microtransit that are happening in southeast Florida uh Transit agencies are going to service providers that provide multiple levels of service uh in Hollywood 15,000 Riders per month with a microtransit vehicle that Loops in and connects to a transit route pompo Beach um very successful at $22.28 per Rider and then another one in West Palm Beach um and then there's also another vendor that you know and I'm sure all of these vendors will brand the system to match your transit system and people will understand the connectivity um these companies are very Savvy at getting do in federal grants they'll actually write the grant for you um and there's opportunities to have different levels of vehicles that are more in the context of going into neighborhoods and bringing people to Hubs like to Walmart so that they can get on Route One and it it's an opportunity when we talk about late shift um or Saturday shift this is something that they're doing in Broward County when the bus service stops at 11:00 at night you still have Hospital workers Etc you could use this late shift or Saturday shift program using the vehicles on the left or a van on the right depending on the service to test the waters for weekends service so for our third scenario adding bus stops we know that's a major need we identified 40 potential stop locations based on the transit Gap analysis and feedback that we received during Outreach destinations include the cane Center laaya the health department the Cleveland Clinic the North and South one the Publix at caner crossing the banner Lake Community Center Ocean Boulevard which would allow more transfer unities to the Stewart tram the House of Hope and various along us one obviously the downside to having more stops is that the bus schedules would need to be reassessed but we think increasing access to people and jobs is well worth the trade-off so fourth scenario our aspirational network with the Hub we envision having an intermodal center located in Stewart in proximity to the proposed bright Line station with time transfers we have five potential microtransit zones throughout the community and two trunk lines that we proposed the Jensen Beach Trolley the purple route and caner Highway which is the route in Orange and the major benefit to having microtransit zones are enhanced safety since there's currently a lack of safe crosswalks in many communities um it's a first mile Last Mile solution and it would cost less than today's cost per Rider we then developed a a realistic business plan based on the best results and the highest need to develop the recommended plan it includes all of the no to no cost Alternatives adding 40 bus stops and a few pilot programs from Scenario 3 and four we included an expanded marketing campaign starting at $155,000 a year to increase awareness splitting route three would result in the north circulator having 35 minute headways in the South circulator later having 40 minute headways potentially Route 4 Flex route the headways could vary between 60 to 80 minute headways depending on the demand for trip requests we also propose having a late shift pilot program for this route extending route 20x to the mangonia park Tri Rail station we could be looking at headways that are 80 minutes today they vary between 35 and 90 we think microtransit in Palm City would be a great first Zone to Pilot for microtransit service potentially from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. um we with that we could start begin understanding the demand for service and how it could increase overall ridership to the existing routes that would connect to it we could also pilot the Saturday service for the service areas within routes 1 2 3 and four using Transportation networking companies and again the span we could be look we could start with 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. um so we did some we did cost estim for um all these routes and when we combine them the potential ridership and the potential costs we're estimating that it could cost 1632 per Rider which is much lower than Marty's cost per Rider in 2022 when you looked at all fixed route Services the implementation plan we're anticipating over 294,000 trips annually new trips by 203 4 and the estimates we have they're a conservative number because when we looked at initial estimates we looked at each alternative separately but when you combine them all you're the system's going to work more holistically and people are going to be making transfers between the different services so we actually think ridership could actually be higher so this is a conservative number that we developed so just a little bit on the timing of the uh implement plan again um marketing we heard quite a bit from the community they knew buses went by their Community they really didn't know where it connected to and where they could end up uh route optimization um looking at the route as a system and there's a some long waights when you want to transfer from one bus to another bus um adding bus stops was probably the most significant Improvement those 40 bus stops could add 70 7,000 writers per year um we also think in 2025 which begins September 1st by the way uh start scoping out microtransit uh changing a route uh following federal guidelines take some time but um it's a good time to look at what's out there and what's available and how it could fit into your system um beginning in uh FY 26 look at The Late Shift pilot for uh Route 4 um extending route two to the trial station in Palm Beach County again we're recommending extending the Headway and this is just a reallocation of resources and connecting to Tri Rail could be something very significant to the community splitting route three again this is reallocation of resources um and extend no I'm sorry extending route two is the um extension of the um Indian town route to the Walmart extending 20x the same year that's getting down to Tri Rail and again reallocation of resources a big part of your upcoming 10 years is your buses are nearing their retirement age and you're going to need to replace the whole Fleet no matter what you do um we're recommending that you look at a fleet plan and decide on the type and size of vehicle that you want to be purchasing U beginning in um fiscal year 2027 um 27 again your bright Line hub will be up and running um we think leveraging that station to have some bus stops and creating a Transportation Center um bus replacement begins um piloting the Saturday shift and then complete operations analysis comprehensive operations analysis on how the whole system works and connects with each other and come 2029 it's time to do this all over again and press a reset uh this process really never stops technology is moving very fast and as Lucine said the TDP is a living document uh it's not fiscally constrained as um required in your long range Transportation plan um you know you have the opportunity to meet Community needs and change the plan as new opportunities arise there are other items that we looked at in the aspirational network that didn't make it into the recommended plan um there's other ways to reduce the cost of the recommended plan and also to add in some of these other Alternatives including TNC zones in Indiantown Jensen Beach Rio and Port Salerno federal and state grants are available um maybe not purchasing all 14 Vehicles as the large vehicle type can bring down your Capital costs Fair increases uh your fair right now is a $150 um in our survey overwhelmingly people thought that was very reasonable and you know we recommended a fair increase in 2031 um that may be something you want to consider to help offset the cost particularly when you're rolling in new products um and then consistant looking at the efficiency of the system uh which you already do on an annual basis but there's are um more sophisticated tools to look at the efficiencies and having buses meet at the same time and dealing with traffic congestion through the day is not a simple process and uh moving forward I think you all have a lot of opportunity here um other policy and Capital Improvements again exploring Fair increases um more locations for the sale of fairs um you may be able to leverage Marty vehicles for parot transit for other uses but then also engaging in the comprehensive plan and development process um getting developments to pay for bus stops rather than having the Transit Agency pay uh and potentially a future maintenance facility uh the next steps um we have a uh count Board of County Commission meeting on May 14th we're looking for adoption of this final draft um the TDP needs to be transmitted to do by September 21st uh it needs to come from the board of County Commissioners and then the dot has the opportunity for review and comment and the TDP must be approved by December 31st to get next year's cycle of funding uh and with that we're prepared to respond to questions okay thank you uh commissioner herd thanks um yeah these these enhancements all look terrific but what you skipped over was that they they produce a an annual operational deficit of $2 and a. half million that that's correct um but we we can't we we're where are we supposed to get $2 and A5 million do so the initial there are there are elements that we believe are just reallocations of existing funding so you know if you choose not to do the ones that add additional cost again you can this is a dynamic plan and these are the the guard rails that you can be within but we offered up a number of improvements including the route three the extension to tr rail the extension of route two uh at no cost my my feeling is that the buses are the wrong size the routes are the wrong routes and the schedules are too complicated so we need to get rid of those big buses we need to create new routes and we need to uh really really look into a microtransit I think I'm all about if we can get these the companies to to to Brand on microtransit I'm all for it you know but this this draft plan is just too it's too big it's too broad it's too cumbersome it's not it's not specific enough for me to to uh to approve at any time I think that we have some some real I think we know what our problems are and I think that we need to to address them uh and and create a a new system not just try to put a Band-Aid on our existing one Jeff could I if I could comment if that's okay um I just wanted to clarify that this is the TDP major update that's required to be um developed every five years the Transit Agency is require and it's kind of a guide um it has a 10-year planning Horizon um the Transit Agency is required to do an annual report or minor update every year and that's when um they will come to the board of County Commissioners and give an annual update of what's happened in the past year did this make sense did the some of these items make sense and we were able to move ahead with them or maybe they just weren't able to be funded or changed and why so this is kind of a guide for the next five years until it's re until it's developed again so I just wanted to clarify that and kind of describe how it is a working doc document the major update is required by the state every 5 years but then the county is required to do an annual report or minor update every year and report on how they've accomplished some of these um um goals and objectives or how they or or if they didn't accomplish them and and why what was the envirment where they weren't able to accomplish it if that that helps kind of helps clarify the process of this document yeah but what if they what if they do like for example extending 20x to Tri Rail that's a that's a non-starter for me so what if you we prioritize that know it is a living document and it's also a Visionary document too so it's it's asking the question how will Transit grow what are the community's needs and what direction do we want to grow so it has a lot of proposed um um projects and needs um so I just wanted to add that it's a it's intended to be a vision plan thanks commissioner heathington I tend to agree with commissioner herd I think it it's it's fairly Broad and I think that we should be focusing on microtransit and addition you you have in here and that's reallocation right so the the scenario area one the reallocation that is keeping the funding status quo the exact same funding so how do you add 40 routes and keep the funding the same or 40 stops sorry stops well that could vary based on um how how many enhancements you'd like at those stops so um we have when we did the finance plan we looked at um more expensive stops that have shelters and more amenities and then we also have some basic stops that could cost as low as 3,000 per and I thought we had discussed I don't know if it was here or at the board having stops with only shelter coverings was that at the board maybe um so have we analyzed the the existing stops to see which ones have the most ridership so for instance you had had um suggested a stop at a House of Hope in Golden Gate but it seems like the stop on um I Indian and I don't know if it's Ellendale one of the side streets into Golden Gate is not utilized and that one causes a lot of traffic backup so issues have you analyzed each of those stops to see what which ones are making um are most efficient and would they be worth replacing rather than adding stops stop by stop individually looking at all 67 stops no we did not do that we looked at Route modifications and the potential for route ridership we are recommending that these types of Assessments be undertaken okay so then I guess I'm if you haven't analyzed that yet what are we what are we approving then I I understand it's a vision but I would want to know which stops are are working and which stops before we start adding stops in a vision plan because those those stops would potentially become reality there are some stops that I think could be eliminated in order to add some of the stops that you feel are necessary when are we planning on doing that and analyzing that sure sure so just to kind of clarify this document is actually a county document Marty had actually come to the mo and asked that we developed the transit development plan for them that's why after this meeting it's going to go to the board of County Commissioners um it was good timing for us us because we're required to have this information in our long range Transportation plan um which is a a vision plan it's a guide book um and so that it it we worked so we've worked very closely with the transit Division and with fot to develop this plan so this information can go into our long range transport long range Transportation plan the um the document itself does make recommendations like an operational analysis looking at the bus stops like you're mentioning and that's something that the county will be doing um on that's something that could be part of the annual report you know um this is a guide this is the big picture guide with the 10year um 10year planning Horizon for the purposes of the mo that will be included in their 2050 longrange Transportation plan for the county this is their guide to kind of move forward and to do those recommended analyses to look at bus stops to look at op operations to look at microtransit to see what what is feasible and what's most cost efficient and that th that's the kind of information that will come up on the annual report on the minor updates from the transit division to the board of County Commissioners I'd like to add what you mentioned is exactly one of the needs we have documented uh we proposed um as part of the Alternatives a customer facilities and ADA compliance plan of the bus stops so yes it is a need that's all for now and let the record reflect that commissioner Smith has arrived and I'm turning the gavl over to him very we apprec we we appreciate your attendance and so I think the next one to uh speak is commissioner Collins I thought you did a great job by the way yes so um no you're right I I'm also in agreement with the other Commissioners I get the sense that this plan is to try to be open and include a lot to be refined later but what I would like to see is similarly if 2027 is when you are looking at potentially reuping your buses to me they're inefficient they're waste I I would like to see the microtransit sort of like phasing out buses going into 27 and increasingly phasing in micro Transit uh investing too much into stops and more infrastructure around buses then makes less sense to me uh so from a fiscal standpoint you know maybe it's on some time period to truly test it out with different um regions you mentioned Palm City to me Stewart makes more sense you know Palm city is um especially around downtown Stewart Palm City's a land of 43s with a pool with two ranges in the driveway I'd rather see sort of around you know the city I feel like you've got more going on especially with bright line coming for an initial test but that's just my off the cuff but um that's sort of a thing where we're increasingly investing as it makes microtransit and phasing out buses you know would be my take on it it sounds like what you're that's what you're trying to do but you also are trying to do the bus thing too so that it's not too um exclusive to the micr Transit but uh sort of on the same wavelength of maybe let's do less let's focus here around what's going to make sense and and and save money instead of trying to do too much would be my my take is that you yes ma'am thank you and I would just like to Echo all the sentiments that have already been um been expressed I am in I am in agreement and you know we talk about the annual report and but approving this and this is a vision plan and at what point does that Interruption come that these uh concerns drop into that Vision plan and drop into you know in that move forward with that so commissioner Mayfield um Yes again I I am new is here I do am cognizant of the fact that you guys have said repeatedly that this is the final thing that you want to get done there's like a deadline correct like that you need correct yeah the county um requested the mo to develop this plan in order for them to receive the transit block grant funds from the state that they receive on an annual basis this is a requirement for that um like I said since we are a planning agency they approached us and asked us to do the required TDP in order for them to get the grant money and like I said said the timing was good because we're just kicking off the long range plan so we'll be able to include this Transit planning component into our long range plan as far as the no is concerned and I me it'll go over to the county to what they want to do I just wanted to get the deadline I mean I I am under the Imp I mean we've seen this a couple times I remember we met individually we had another presentation um I'm not saying I disagree with the other comments but I don't feel like that was I didn't see that as the be all and end all so I'm not surprised that we haven't seen a total shift to microtransit yet because you're also working with what the county already has you already have a bunch of buses so if this is the long range plan and I mean I again I'm not the county so I don't make the final decision but it sounds like this is the big thing that I would approve and then the county gets to it and kind of changes what they want with the idea that we all gave the input that yes micro Transit was the endgame maybe that could be moveed for moved forward a little bit but I'm I'm for approving it at this point because it seems like there's a deadline this is longterm and the county can change it as they see fit because they're the ones that actually control it so that's my anybody else s like a I I didn't I I will add to I mean it could have been um I I think what's important and I think Ka just sort of summed it up and Chris also commented and I miss and I apologize for missing the prior part of the conversation but um how I take all of this especially an item like this is this is input to the County Commission as to what the mo thinks about a project like this and so okay your comments and your and Chris's comments those of us that are Commissioners listen to that and and build that into our thought process you know it's it's not a one- stop we approved it that's it it goes away and and it never happens again so um at least from my seat I appreciate the commentary so that we understand what everybody else is thinking that's why you're all here to help us get the best input we can get and with that if that was a motion I mean I would make I'll make a motion to approve the uh final draft TDP second okay we have a motion in a second anybody from the public wish to comment on this item seeing none back to the board anybody any final other comments all in favor say I I all opposed motion carries one two three four five six to one with commissioner heatherington dissenting I'm also opposed I'm also oh I'm sorry uh 5-2 with commissioner Collins and heatherington dissenting thank you very much thank you next item on the agenda is item 8 B uh yes um 8B is the final draft of the fcal year 25 and fiscal year 26 unified planning work program or upw you all saw this in draft form last month the only real um big change is the um is the deobligation money that you all approved at the last U meeting to deobligate funding from fiscal year 24 to move it into fiscal year 25 to be able to spend those funds in fiscal year 25 that's really the only um major change the um it pretty much mirrors what you all saw last month um most of the fun that's being moved to fiscal year 25 will fund our 20 uh50 long range Transportation plan um most of the consultant services in this document actually will fund the 2050 lrtp there are some funds that are going towards the congestion management US1 congestion management studies um as well as there's some funding that's going towards a quarterly update to the development review map um in the past couple of years we've done a biannual update but a number of agencies and people have asked ask that it be done on a quarterly basis so we will um move forward and if with your approval to to do that on a uh to the to update the um development review map on a quarterly basis so I'll be happy to answer any questions and staff is recommending approval of this item good Commissioners questions pending any public comment all motion staff's recommendations second have a motion we have a second from the public wish to comment on this item seeing none back the board any further Chris you no any further uh discussion all in favor the motion say I I opposed motion carries unanimously Beth item 8 C the the next item is the draft fiscal year 25 through fiscal year 29 Transportation Improvement program or tip um this is coming to you in draft form this month and we be coming back to you for final approval next month and I'm going to turn the floor over to Ricardo Vasquez to present this item morning board so uh most of you who have been on this board for quite some time now this is a an annual thing that we approve and review it's our transportation Improvement program um it is our short range plan uh covers a 5year period of all the transportation projects in the county uh there's a nice section in the document that discusses our performance measures that you guys adopt and approve we include those in there we do a chapter regarding that we discuss our public involvement how we get input from the public on the transportation Improvement program and then at the end of the document is what we call the meat of the document it's all the projects the highway projects Transit projects airport projects Turnpike projects at the in the appendices at the end that discusses the funding that's associated with those projects and the kind of the timeline they're on um so with that uh as Beth mentioned is it is a draft form of the document we will be bringing the final document to you all in June for final approval um I did want to make a note um that the list of project priorities that you all approve or that you all approved last June are included in this Transportation Improvement program and the next list of project priorties that you will all be approving in our next meeting in June will be in the next year's tip and that's kind of the cycle that we follow um so if you're reviewing this tip and don't see the current list of project priorities that you guys had reviewed and adopted is because this is the one in this tip is from the last one you all approved so I just didn't want to you know freak out if you know you don't see certain projects in there so um with that I will be happy to answer any questions and we are looking for approval today all perfectly good sense good move approval second we have a motion to Second any discussion from the board any questions seeing none uh anybody from the public wish to comment on this item this is item 8C not back to the board any final comments all in favor the motion say I I all is opposed motion carries num cardo thank you Beth item 8D item 8D is the southeast Avalon Drive sidewalk project update this is a project that's funded with Transportation Alternative Program funds or tap funds and there has been a bit of a change to this project so we have the County's capital projects um administrator Keith Baker here to talk about the scope change because these are federal funds that are funding this project any kind of change such as this needs to go back through the no process to get um um The Advisory committees and Boards um approval on it so with that I'll turn it over to Keith hello good morning I'm Keith Baker I'm the capital project administrator morning good morning um this is a proposed six- foot sidewalk project along Avalon Drive and Stewart uh helps increase connectivity and is um essentially piping or undergrounding the drainage from an open soil being presented to you is the project has not changed in essence of um the improvements just the side of the road that it's on it was proposed on the east side during the design process there was an conflict identified with the existing water main um so this is just moving the proposed sidewalk to the west side of the road um did you have your letter oh that's my book I'm sorry Mr herd yeah is there any existing sidewalk uh no not okay thanks move approval second we have a motion we have a second any discussion from the board any further discussion from the board anybody from the public wish to talk about this item effectively we're moving it from one side of the road to the other all in favor the motion say I all opposed motion carries Keith thank you item 8 e Beth yes um 8 e is the Martin County public transit Asset Management plan and the transit asset targets um this item is required to be in both our short range uh plan our transportation Improvement program as well as our long range Transportation plan um Ash beer is here from the Transit Agency and he will talk about the transit ass set targets that have been from what I understand already approved by the board of County Commissioners and then Ricardo will talk about how those targets will be included in our short range and long range plans thank you good morning everyone so the FDA requires its direct recipients to have a Transit Asset Management in place to document the processes um used to ensure that federally funded assets are kept in a state of good repair so the Marty tan plan has a four-year planning Horizon and it's updated annually right now Marty has 19 vehicles that we use for Revenue Service which includes 14 heavy duty gilligs and five uh light duty cutaways um we also have five non-revenue service vehicles that we use for driver transfers and um Road supervisors uh the light duty cutaways are reserved for Marty access which is that door-to-door paratransit service um those vehicles are not FTA funded they were originally procured at the same time um there they were originally scheduled to be replaced in fiscal year 5 but they remain they remain in a state of good repair so we don't suspect or expect those Vehicles will need to be replaced um until fiscal year 26 um there is a heavy duty gillig that we um expect to meet its useful life Benchmark in fiscal year 27 or somewhere between fiscal year 27 and fiscal year uh 28 we should have a better idea um next year on uh where that vehicle stands but we did document that in our Transit development plan for fiscal year 2017 just in case um that pretty much sums up the uh the the asset management rep uh replacement plan just to tie that into what the no does when we put together our uh Transportation Improvement program or longer Transportation plan it is a requirement to identify the transit Asset Management targets that the uh county has put forward and we adopt those and when we get funding we kind of tie that in with the funding that we get from our tip kind of helps the asset management plan stay uh you know that the vehicles are are up to date or maintain it up to date so it's kind of like a housekeeping thing that we do um for the tip and the lrtp um we're not required to update the targets but since we are adopting our new 2050 lrtp I just want to get ahead of the game and say that we've looked at them we've approved them so that we can include it once we move forward with the document so with that we'll be happy to answer any questions board members any questions I'll move staff's recommendation for approval second motion we have a second any further discussion from the board anybody from the public wish to speak on this item this is item 8e County public transit seeing none back the board all favor motion say I I I all opposed motion carries unanimously thank you Ash thank you Beth item 8f yeah item f is the continuity of operations plan or Coupe update um this is kind of another um housekeeping item and just to let you know um every four years we do have a federal audit from Federal Highway and Federal Transit Administration and um so probably during the next 12 to 18 months you'll be seeing a lot of approvals and housekeeping issues come forward so that's staff's way of getting everything in line to get ready for that big Federal audit that we have um this particular item the coupe update we're required to do every year this is kind of a good time of year to do it um because it's getting close to Hurricane Season the beginning of hurricane season and that's to ensure that the um Mo will continue to operate even during a hurricane or during an emergency um this pretty much mirrors what we have La had last year it um does um we do have a few Min minor updates like the contact list and we changed the formatting um so um I'll be happy the staff will be happy to answer any questions and we are recommending approval of this item good any questions for bth on this item move approval a motion we have a second any further discussion from the board anybody from the public on this item this is item 8f Coupe Coop seeing none back to the board all those in favor the motion to say I I I opposed motion carries unanimously item 8 G Beth please yes this is 8G is the coov road PD and presentation we have the fot District uh project manager here as well as the consultant um to give an update on this project good morning good morning honorable mayor and Commissioners um thanks my name is Vanita sin I'm the dot project manager um for Cove Road and I also have with me David dangle who is the consultant project manager from Aruda group said that right I sorry our do our DOA group our presentation today um we're going to be discussing the covo PD study and focusing on the Alternatives that we'll be presenting in the upcoming Alternatives Workshop meeting um uh the notices for the elected officials went out last week along with appointed officials and etat members so they all receive notices for the upcoming public Workshop the property owner letters also went out last week so either they have received it or will um be receiving it um you know within the prior to the workshop so this project is the Cove Road um P project development environment study FP Financial project ID 44170 -1 efficient transportation decisionmaking number 14479 okay just to recap a little on the transportation development process um the planning phase um the Martin Mo requested fdot to fund and and lead the Cove Road widening project So currently we're in the PD phase and the PDN phase consists of evaluating the project feasibility and potential impacts to the Natural physical social and cultural environment it also includes complying with Federal State Environmental laws and is required to secure Federal regulatory approval um part part of the P will be conducting a preliminary engineering uh we'll be evaluating options to avoid minimize mitigate potential environmental impacts we also uh coordinate with the federal local and state agencies we engage with the public and um and the final outcome is selecting a preferred alternative and going to uh ldca uh throughout the process we do um um promote and um engage in uh public Outreach uh this is a project location map of Cove Road it is uh between State Road 76 ker Highway and State Road 5 US1 and it's about 3.2 miles oops so just to go over Cove Road the existing characteristics it's a two Lane undivided roadway it's a major arterial it's in unincorporated Martin County it has intermittent sidewalks and the Post-it speed varies between 35 45 miles an hour and these are the existing conditions of Cove Road um the project kickoff meeting was held uh about a year ago in March and um we had both a virtual and an inperson meeting and we will be having an upcoming Publix's Workshop meeting which will also be a similar format virtual and in person so for the virtual format um in order to get the link uh uh the you have to register basically on the project website and then you'll get the link for the virtual format meeting with that I will hand it over to David dangle and he'll go over some of the Alternatives that we'll be presenting thanks Vita good morning uh just to go over the purpose and need for the project uh the primary purpose of widening C Road from 2 to 4 Lanes is to add capacity for all modes of travel and to improve the Local transportation network uh there are several needs for the project to support economic and social demands improve system linkage improve capacity improve modal inter relationships and also to improve emergency evacuation so we currently have five different concepts that we're looking at um for the project we looked at others and we've discounted some of those uh we'll also be looking at the no build alternative through the entire study and we broken the project into two evaluation segments and that's basically having to do with the existing rideway width along the road um so segment one is from caner Highway to Avalon and then the last segment uh from Avalon and US1 is very near right away uh so we looked at that in uh separately so Venita kind of went over the existing additions so from caner to Avalon it's basically a two-lane road there are some areas where it widens out with the turn lane so that's that's shown here in the strike median 12ft travel Lanes uh storm water runoff is collected and treated in whales along the road and we do have sidewalks in some areas but it's not continuous and we the RightWay varies from 97 to 203 F feet but it's generally wide enough to to build a four-lane road um the current road is it's not quite centered and so we're looking at complete reconstruction because we won't be able to save the existing pavement uh for the new road uh so we've got two Alternatives in the first segment alternative 1A is an urban four-lane roadway it's got a 22-ft raise median two 11t travel Lanes in each Direction and 7 foot on-road buffer bike Lanes in each Direction on the south side of the road where the schools are it's a 12ft shared use path and on the North side it's got a six foot sidewalk and it requires a minimum of 122 and 1 half ft of rideway um these are the boards that will be showing at the public meeting I know it's very hard to see this um but we're generally fit within the existing rideway there are some minor areas where we we may need some some rideway um in a few spots so the second alternative is also a for Lane divided uh roadway same 22 and2 ft median 11t travel Lanes but we've taken the bike accommodations off the road uh so the bikes and pedestrians are accommodated on a 12ft Shar juice path on both sides of the road and this only requires 119 ft of rideway so it's a little bit narrower so those are really the two options in this first segment again it generally fits within the existing rideway um along the corridor so the second segment is the the last quarter or so of the the project um from Avalon to US1 the rideway is generally 90 ft in width um again it's a two-lane road there is a turn lane in a few locations sidewalk on on the North side and some areas on the South Side um on the north side of the road you can see the wood fence line there are residences that back up to the road through this entire stretch on the south side of the road we've got Montego Cove which has their condominium buildings right up against the rideway and access to some of the units right by the rideway and then part of that segment there are some very large uh transmission power P so those are kind of the constraints we're uh looking at in this segment so the first alternative um um has the 19 and 1 half foot medium we've we've been able to narrow that down some 11 foot travel Lanes in each Direction on the south side again we've got the 12ft shared juice path or the 10ft shared juice path that's the minimum we can go down to and then on the North side the 7ft buffer bike lane and the sidewalk because we have to accommodate the bikes and then the pedestrians uh and they both can't be accommodated on a sidewalk requires 108 and2 ft of RightWay minimum so that's that's about 18 and 1 12 ft of ride of white that would be needed from one side of the road or the other or a combination of those two again we've our alternative that we will present to the public we'll have large boards that they can they can see it the virtual will have boards that they can download and zoom into so they can see you know in their backyards or you know in in much greater detail uh but we're looking at an optimized alignment where we try to balance the residential impacts with avoiding the montigo cove and and the utility impacts the second alternative is alternative 2C um it matches more closely with 1B where we've got the the shared juice Pals on both sides of the road and the bicycles not on the road um we've got a 15 and 1 half foot median we reduced the inside travel Lan to 10 ft uh it requires 101.5 ft so still 112 ft of additional ride of we would be needed uh for this option again we look to balance uh the impacts uh by shifting from the north side to the southide through the corridor and then the last one is alternative 2D this is really our minimized alternative um the south side of the road um we are looking at the the 10ft Sher G's path um and we we're trying to kind of go around the power poles and then on the north side of the road again we've got the 6ft buffer bike lane we reduce that and the sidewalk right against the back of the sidewalk uh the curb and all this widening is going to be to the south side of the road um and it requires the the least amount of rideway about eight and a half feet of rideway uh for this option so we will look at the impacts and we we've looked at the impacts uh to the environmental uh aspects species and habitat Wetlands air quality contamination um and and others and we we've summarized that information into an evaluation Matrix and this is what we'll show to the public public uh we got the two options in segment one the two options in three options in segment two uh plus the no build alternative um so we've got the the property impacts in the the first group the environmental impacts in the second group and then the costs at the bottom uh one item that we haven't filled in yet is the pond RightWay cost we're looking at both off-site ponds and also exfiltration which can be done within the RightWay so we're still going through that but we'll have that information available when we meet with the public this is our PDN study schedule you can see in the middle we're getting ready to go to the Alternatives public information meeting the virtual is on May 21st and the inperson May 22nd um the next phase of development is designed and do has got that funded it's going to a actually advertised in the next few months uh for DOT to to hire a consultant to do that and then RightWay and construction not currently funded uh this is venita's uh contact information if you've got any other questions or comments and that should be in your your handout packet and then last thing I'll do is uh read the the safety campaign uh item for the month uh this month is National Youth safety traffic month and the Florida Department of Transportation encourages safe driving habits for teenagers who plan to get behind the wheel according to Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles nearly 40,000 crashes were linked to teen drivers in Florida alone in 2020 fdot has committed to improving safety for all drivers including the state's youngest motorists with the ultimate goal being Vision zero a traffic safety and initiative uh with the goal of Zero fatalities or serious injuries with that I'd be happy to answer any questions M Mayfield yes I just have a quick question on the second segment the existing condition from Avalon to US1 it has those big uh utility poles that are concrete but then in the pictures they look pretty and small is that are you is are they going to change or that seems like a hard thing to change no they're well they're kind of halfway through the segment so I'm not sure if the picture is the actual and the north side of the road there's small ones on the South Side about halfway through they're bigger okay it was just in the the existing one maybe I'm looking at the thing wrong and then the Alternatives it shows the more decorative oh those are the those are the street lights those are the street lights no yeah those are the street lights so so this doesn't really show the poles and okay but they're still going to be there they're still going to be there yeah sorry about that yeah I I see that will there be both or are you going to use the the existing poles to hang they'll be separate they'll be separate so that that should be reflected in that yes yeah you can see on the right the kind of the inset that we you know we kind of attempted to show that that big concrete pole there yes yeah I never realized those were lights and not the electricity but somehow I thought maybe it's some great system to oh no is that it yeah that was it m her yeah I like uh 1B and 2C and I particularly like them because they require a little less right of way and also I really like them because I don't think that it bicycles on this are appropriate at all U so I think I like the idea of the multim the big multimodal on both sides to accommodate both Walkers and Riders I think that's real smart also I noticed that in all of them there are no Center turn lanes and there are lots and lots of Roads there lots of turns that need to be made to the north and to the South all along the corridor so how are you going to accommodate turns we we will accommodate the turns this is just a representative of the road there that the the median will allow for left turns to be developed so that's one of the things we'll be we'll be presenting those big display boards will show all the areas where there are turns turn lanes and so it won't look like this it won't have a grass median it will have not continuously it will have this except where there's turn lanes and there will be a turn lane there okay and also this is frivolous perhaps but are there plans for landscaping that came up in the committee meeting last Monday the the the RightWay estim the cost estimates for the project include a contingency for landscaping we don't typically get into those details during the study that's more of a design level thing but yes there there landscaping could be accommodated here and there's enough there's enough ride of way that can be purchased in front of Montego Cove to accommodate 100 1 uh feet of rideway um to see yeah this one well there will be some right of way acquired from them the issue is trying not to disallow them to get access to the building because they they Park and then there's a sidewalk that comes up to the front door the very closest one to the RightWay and so it's trying not to hit that so we we will get into some RightWay but not to the point where it it won't allow somebody to still have access to to their condo and they'll still have their wall there will be a wall I think that's one of the details we just need to look at if it needs to be rebuil okay thanks that it is that it that's it I agree with commissioner herd having the multimodal path rather than the um my opinion absolutely anybody else uh I concur with the other two I think 1 B and 2C make the most sense um I think bike lanes are increasingly becoming more dangerous and and more problematic and I think separating them as as a whole is safer for our public as a whole uh three other things that um I I like to touch on I know we're not at the um the design stage but I think we ought to be thinking about it at this point um commissioner herd raised a part of the question relative to the turn Lanes um and to uh Landscaping uh I very much would like to see the corridor um look similar to what we did on Willoughby years ago I think when we're doing major corridors like this it's an opportunity to significantly enhance um what otherwise is just a Barren strip of asphalt or grass um when we did Willoughby that was a that was a really big shift in in terms of our landscaping design criteria and i' hope that we would head more towards that direction than less than uh I'd also not rather come back 3 years later like we're doing on caner right now and ripping it all up and tying up traffic and doing all that so if we're going to do it let's do it all at one time please don't come back and tell us at some point that oh that's really a two-year down the road piece of the project and we're not doing that for another two or three years which means we come back and rip it up and tick off everybody after we've already done the project to begin with um I think it's an opportunity uh to uh sign significantly take advantage if we're going to be rebuilding the whole crosssection any crosswalks that we do from north to south uh to use the most enhanced form of crosswalk technology that exists um we have been messing around in the county with different designs uh Golden Gate is a perfect example of where we have tried different things I think the city of Stewart I guess you guys may have by Design or by policy I don't know have landed on those the ones that are now on Baker um in a in aania they're the they're the they're the four very intense LED yellow lights uh that if you miss them there's really something wrong the the little ones that we have on our street signs they're okay um but they're not adequate I think what the city's doing is is really the direction to be looking at there's also some technology in Europe that they're using where they are uplighting the actual white striping from the asphalt up which illuminates the entire crosswalk it might be a really cool um Corridor to do some experimental work without to see if that's something we want to do for all of our cross Fox I've asked our staff to look at one of ours on a NE River Drive which we have I think significant darkness and you can't see pedestrians um and it's good that we have this Center meeting that will create a safe space in the middle I just crosswalks I think are something we really got to focus on and do a better job in design so I know it's early premature a little bit but at least if you're thinking about it ahead of time maybe we can start think about it uh next uh even given the prior discussion on our transit system I think if we're going to continue to have buses in some shape form or fashion we should have pullouts not these stops on in the travel Lane um that just seem ridiculously stupid that we do that along sort of I I think with the bike lane conversation the pullouts have to be designed into it um so that a bus can literally get off the right away pull into a pull out plan on having a shelter of some sort with that pull out um but that's got to be incorporated right from the beginning I think my opinion and again my last one was the landscape of the medians and and the areas surrounding it anybody else have anything else they want to add anybody from the public on this one do we need to do anything on this do we need to this is an information item just information and when so when will we hear back from you all next what's the next step after this uh public meeting we'll finalize the recommended alternative and then we'll prepare for a public hearing later this year towards the end of the year okay Commissioners I'm sorry I have a quick question if I can ask um since I'm somewhat new and learning this stuff when you um when you're designing a road and thinking about it do you automatically put in a b Bike Line and by the way I agree with the shared use path as opposed to the bike lane but do you automatically put one in if there's room just in case or is there like do you look at is there a lot of bike use or is there a lot of pedestrian like how do you decide if it's if there's room do you just put it in for the future or do you we have to accommodate bicyclists either on the road or with a sh okay on State Road on state projects um okay there's not a set rule of which one to use a lot of times heavy input from bike groups High biking and so they really push are you saying this one is oh okay just in general have brought it up I don't I don't go on this road very often at all right there so I wouldn't say it's an overwhelming demand for it but I think the state on state roads is really moving away from the on-road bike Lanes okay especially when the roads get over 30 35 miles an hour poed speed limit just they found them to be aafe that makes sense and then you offer the shared use or sidewalks if there's room same kind of thing like there's just encouragement to always put those if yes okay all right thank you once again that inperson meeting is when and where May 22nd and it's at the Indian River State College okay right by the project okay thank you um I guess I'm asking our our board at this point do you all feel comfortable at this point three of us gave our opinions on the typical sections do you do you want us to be making like a motion saying our preferred option at this point is 1 B and 2C would that be helpful to you all why don't we do it anyway well yeah we'll take um your comments into consideration but we do have to um wait until after the P alts Workshop to incorporate all everyone's comments including the public okay that show up what time is that Workshop what time is the workshop starts at 5:30 with an open house and we'll do a presentation about 6 and then just stay it's 5:30 at inur State College huhuh May 22nd May 22nd correct so great so after that when do we have the opportunity to give our recommended opinion I mean we after the public meeting I mean it would be great to get something as part of the public comment period we usually go 10 days after the meeting to incorporate and and then we respond to all the the comments so okay so Beth let me ask you this when's our next meeting June in June I think it's June can we a placeholder agenda item for this um because that'll follow your May 22nd meeting and um that way we can get input from what you all heard uh but we can also again I think take a position at that point in time that our preferred option unless it changes would be the 1B and 2C every okay with that with consideration of bus yeah got it I'm glad you thought of that uh okay thank you very much good discussion um Beth [Music] item H yeah H is the transportation disadvantage or TD planning Grant application that's comes before you every year it's um State funds to um support the staff um administration of the local Coordinating Board for the Transportation disadvantaged uh this grant is based on formula and is in the amount of $225,000 staff is recommending approval for it and I'll be happy to answer any questions move approval have a motion we have a second any other discussion from the board anybody from the public wish to chime in on item 8 H none back to the board all in favor of the motion to say I I all is opposed motion carries unanimously uh last item item if you will on our agenda is State Road 710 update yes uh Ron CA is here the sis coordinator from for District 4 is here to give the 710 update Ron good morning welcome back thank you good morning sure you have a funding and acquisition and all the stuff that we ever wanted to hear update favors are not quite um but we've got some some information but um a lot of the information you're going to hear is repeat from last month um to be honest it's kind of a slow time for um the actual project what's kind really happening is the design teams are kicking off and Engineers are sharpening their pencils and really going at it um but to get back on subject County Road 714 relocation project um also in regards to the 710 widening project from Southeast 126 to van beran so both of those projects are in the design phase they kicked off very recently one kicked off a little sooner than the other two um but they're ongoing the RightWay phases funded for the Department we're keeping the projects as tight as we can on schedule focusing on getting to the RightWay phase as quickly as possible um for all the projects construction is not funded at this time we continue to seek funding for that the project remains our number one sis priority for the widening project um in regards to widening 710 so we'll continue to seek funding there uh through through the sis program uh the survey is ongoing um for design purposes doesn't stop the design team from working and moving forward but it is ongoing so that survey is actually going to cover the whole segment as well as State Road or excuse me as well as the portion under County Road 714 so once that survey comes in all of the projects will have survey to work on and they'll all continue to move forward to the RightWay yeah as far as um that I don't think I have other updates specifically oh Tommy Clemen Street sorry I did check into that with our Operation Center that's on schedule and still moving forward and we've talked briefly before about how the uh right turn lane will come in right immediately after that construction is finished and that that's still the plan nothing's changed there I have to ask the question right ask it for me sure I wondering when it's going to be done well when it's going to be done and do we have the second contractor identified and do we know that the day that the first one finishes that the second one goes into production no I don't have that I can get you at least the information on probably who the contractor may be because that contractor should already be under under contract specifically to us cuz I think uh Chris cares had mentioned this before it's someone that we can immediately utilize and the design plans will be ready so it won't be something that they'll have to you know wait any time on so I can verify the dates that they anticipated as of now but I don't have the information I'm sorry I just think there needs to be some acknowledgment of the fact that there is a second contract that it'll be let the day it can be let and hopefully that's within weeks of the continuation or the completion of the first contract so that we don't say oh we lost three months in between somehow because we didn't ask the no for some kind of a something noted just anything else on that you got it sounds good um anything else you have for us no just uh so we're still looking for construction dollars we don't have that yet do we have the do we have is there any RightWay um are the RightWay dollars we got that this year correct RightWay is funded tentatively for all of the projects both widening segments as well as the relocation of the intersection and so construction and I think I probably say this every time as well I think we should send every time we have this conversation letter to our delegation uh from the no board and maybe it should be on a consent item for the County Commission uh to uh draft a letter to our delegation highlighting the fact that construction is not yet funded that acquisition is but we need their help assistance guidance whatever to go after additional funding from the legislative side and I have talked to our secretary about that and that is not offensive to him um fot I guess is funding lots of things that way that may be funded outside of their normal due course so okay you all okay with that yeah okay Chris okay Beth can you put that together for the chair yes send and then get a consent item if that's how you want to do it for the County Commission to equally send a second letter uh confirming that Ron thank you unless there's anything else I appreciate your trip up here thank you for your time drag you all the way up here but it's it's okay I I enjoy these meetings thank you you probably enjoy the meeting but not the drive it's not too bad I I actually live in Palm Beach County so it's not okay not that bad I'm coming out of PT L yeah so I got to do both tricks thank you have a good day thank you uh Beth any committee comments Committee Member comments uh next meeting is June 17th 2024 any anything else from our members else final saying none we're adjourned awesome thank you that' be great don't you get with be to tag on to the language or whatever