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HomeMy Public PortalAbout110_026_Insert C O R E Additional Questions and Answers COASTAL REGION MPO Regarding the CORE MPO Reapportionment What do you know or understand about the MPO? A Metropolitan Planning Organization(MPO)is a regional transportation planning body that is required in urbanized areas with a population over 50,000. The MPO is responsible for administering the federally required 3-C(comprehensive,cooperative and continuing)transportation planning process for its urbanized area. What is the Reapportionment? Reapportionment refers to the process of updating the Metropolitan Planning Area,Memorandum of Understanding(MOU),By- laws,plan documents and Unified Planning Work Program. When an urbanized area reaches a population of over 200,000,the MPO is designated a Transportation Management Area(TMA), the status of which imposes more stringent requirements on the MPO.The MPO for the Savannah Urbanized Area,which is called the Coastal Region Metropolitan Planning Organization(CORE MPO),was designated a TMA in 2002. An MPO performs the 3-C transportation planning process within the planning boundary called the Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA).The MPA must be revisited following each decennial Census to ensure that the MPO planning boundary includes the current Census Urbanized Area(UZA)and areas expected to become urbanized in the next twenty(20)years.The current CORE MPO planning area is Chatham County. However,the 2010 Census data show that the Savannah Urbanized Area has expanded to neighboring Bryan County and Effingham County.Thus,the revised MPA for CORE MPO should include the Savannah UZA plus areas expected to be urbanized in the next twenty years. With the revision of the CORE MPO's planning boundary,the MPO board and its advisory committees'compositions,the MPO's governing documents,as well as all of the MPO's plans and programs need to be updated to reflect the change. Why are you involved? If you are a municipality within Chatham County or a transit,port or airport authority,you have been a member since the early 1970s. The CORE MPO purpose is to be a collaborative decision-maker for our areas transportation program. Your participation is important to this process.If you are joining-welcome. Who Pays? Currently the City of Savannah and Chatham County pay for all of the local match needed to operate the CORE MPO's planning process. Other jurisdictions or authorities have not participated with financial support. During our update it was proposed that all jurisdic- tions and authorities should contribute a fair share of the costs that ensures the region maintains access to federal funds of about $180 million over the current four year period. The CORE MPO Board believes all members should share the cost of the planning process because the MPO's operation is beneficial to the entire region—for no other reason than to ensure flow of federal transpor- tation dollars to the region. Several formulas were considered for the dues calculation.The result is that base contribution for each member would be$1,000 plus a proportion based upon population. Counties would contribute based upon their unincorporated population plus 25%of the municipalities'population. Cities proportional contribution would be based upon 75%of their population. Authorities would con- tribute a fixed amount at the 70th Percentile of the jurisdictions'contributions. Please explain how the dues invoice would work with our fiscal year(January to December and July to June) The MPC will invoice each jurisdiction annually,probably in May,with payment due in June.The amount would be based upon the Unified Work Program(and budget)reviewed and approved by the CORE MPO Board in the spring of each year.The budget for each year historically has been fairly consistent, so during your budget process,you can use the prior year as a guide to your future year contribution in your budget process. 04-07-2015 What are your commitments in the MOU? This excerpt from the MOU is applicable to counties and municipalities: XIII. IT IS FURTHER INTENDED,that the signatory counties and municipalities,within its official jurisdiction,be responsible for the following: 1. Collaborate with the continuing, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning process of the CORE MPO. 2. Maintain records including crashes occurring on the roads and highways by location and description,and maintain these files on a current basis as provided by your policies and procedures and provide the data to the CORE MPO for analysis and reports upon request. 3. When requested,assist the CORE MPO to collect planning information within the counties and/or municipalities such as socioeconomic data,utility locations,land use and zoning, street inventories,inventories of bicycle and pedestrian facili- ties,and other data as required for the metropolitan planning process. 4. Consider providing local funds for planning, scoping,preliminary engineering,right-of-way acquisition,utility and con- struction to leverage or match federal funds to further the implementation of the CORE MPO priorities per appropriate project framework agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation. 5. Aid the MPO in developing planning-oriented planning, scoping,preliminary engineering,right-of-way,utility and construction cost estimates where applicable for the CORE MPO's 20-year multimodal Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP). 6. Contribute funds toward the annual budget for the CORE MPO's operations as established by the adopted UPWP and the funding contribution formula provided in Exhibit B. 7. Notify the CORE MPO in advance of public meetings and project-related neighborhood meetings and/or stakeholder meetings so that the information can be incorporated into the CORE MPO's plans and programs. What do you get for participating and contributing? As was previously mentioned our area maintains its eligibility for federal funds. MPOs were created to provide a local decision- making body to carry out a planning program and set priorities for use of federal funds to ensure the expenditures related to the need and the project would have a consensus of the community's to support the transportation improvements. Many of the transportation improvements in our plans are regional projects which may not appear to satisfy mobility needs in a specific area like your municipality. Do you have any federal and state investments in your area? Do you have a planning or improvement project on your list that would be eligible? Actively participating in the planning program will ensure your needs get addressed. What will you get for your dues? The benefits of the program include but are not limited to: 1. Access to the CORE MPO staff for technical support,which is particularly a benefit for smaller jurisdictions that do not have a dedicated planning staff. 2. Access to CORE MPO funds to address your planning needs,which can address regional or localized mobility issues. If your planning project is programmed you will get a direct benefit on your contribution. (Your contribution is match for the federal funds, so for every two dollars of local funds provided eight dollars of federal funds are available—a 300%return on investment). 3. Eligibility for federal funds for design,rights of way and construction projects. A project is required to be programmed in the Metropolitan Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Plan to be eligible for federal funding.Until the CORE MPO Board includes the project in these plans the funding will not be authorized. 4. Continued access to federal funds.Your contribution will support the CORE MPO planning program that is mandated by the Federal Highway/Federal Transit Planning Rules and must be satisfactorily accomplished or no federal funds will be authorized.Your participation is important. 04-07-2015