Meeting Minutes of the
Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization
POLICY COMMITTEE

Tuesday, May 27, 2003, 2:00 p.m.
City Council Committee Room
Room 205, Honolulu Hale, 530 South King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii

Member(s) Absent: Councilmember Donovan Dela Cruz (excused), Councilmember Mike Gabbard, Representative Mark Moses, Rodney Haraga (DOT Director)

Staff Present: Gordon Lum (Executive Director) and Pamela Toyooka

Chair Nestor Garcia called the meeting to order at 2:04 p.m. A quorum was present.

I. MINUTES OF THE APRIL 17, 2003 MEETING

Representative Joseph Souki moved and Councilmember Charles Djou seconded that the minutes of the April 17, 2003 meeting be approved as read. The motion was unanimously approved.

II. FY 2004 OVERALL WORK PROGRAM (OWP)
Handout: Final Draft FY 2004 OWP

Representative Kirk Caldwell and Department of Transportation Services (DTS) Director Cheryl Soon arrived during Gordon Lum's presentation, at 2:08 p.m. and 2:10 p.m., respectively.

Gordon Lum, OMPO Executive Director, gave an overview of the OWP:

• What the FY 2004 OWP is
  
• What is included in the OWP - 14 new and 22 previously approved or independently-funded planning studies (also known as "work elements" (W.E.))
  
• Budget amounts - total cost of $14.6 million for 36 planning studies and $1.89 million for the 14 new studies
  
• What reviews were done (including state and local government agencies, federal transportation agencies, OMPO Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), Citizen Advisory Committee, and the general public).

Mr. Lum added that the TAC had recommended endorsement of the OWP. He also explained that approval of the OWP would allow agencies to proceed with new studies. Included in these studies would be identified tasks, consultant contracts, and OMPO travel.

The OMPO consultant contracts included in the OWP are:

• Audit of OMPO's financial operations (W.E. 301.05-04, $20,000) - The final year of a three-year contract that has already been awarded.
  
• Special 2000 Census tabulation (W.E. 201.37-04, $15,000) - Contract to be awarded to the Bureau of the Census.
  
• Regional Transportation Plan (W.E. 202.06-04, $850,000) - The only OMPO consultant contract where the Policy Committee will be asked to rank the consultant teams.

For contracts administered by other agencies, these agencies will rank and select their consultants using their respective City or State procedures.

For OMPO staff and the Policy Committee Chair, the travel budget includes a scanning tour coordinated with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to meet with other government entities, and conferences and meetings involving metropolitan planning issues.

The members had no questions. No one had signed up to testify.

Councilmember Djou moved and Representative Caldwell seconded that the FY 2004 OWP be approved. The motion was unanimously approved.

Chair Garcia noted that Councilmember Donovan Dela Cruz was excused.

Chair Garcia requested that anyone who had not signed up to testify, but wished to submit testimony, could submit written testimony at a later time.

III. BRIEFING ON LEGISLATIVE BILL RELATING TO IMPACT FEES
Handout (from Doug Meller): A copy of text taken from House Bill 1233 and Senate Bill 1404

Chair Garcia introduced Eric Crispin, Director of the City Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP). Mr. Crispin briefed the Policy Committee on City Ordinance 02-52 - which authorized DPP to assess and collect highway impact fees for the Ewa region. Mr. Crispin noted that this ordinance: 1) was signed by Mayor Jeremy Harris on October 30, 2002, and 2) applied to all development in Ewa (including Royal Kunia and the district park). The State Department of Transportation (DOT) and the major Ewa developers supported this ordinance.

Mr. Crispin stated that new building permits would be assessed a fee -$1,836 per dwelling unit for single-family units; $1,245 per unit for multi-family units; $4,053 per thousand square feet for retail space; $3,403 per thousand square feet for office space; and $2,019 per thousand square feet for other space. The City would retain 2% of the fees for administrative costs.

The fees collected would be used to help construct six highway projects - five State projects and one City project. Developers can get a credit by building the highway projects. As of May 20, 2003, $732,950 in fees have been collected. This program will be reviewed every five years.

Mr. Crispin reported that a Memorandum of Agreement between the State and City will be developed that will establish an escrow account. Fees collected by the City will be placed in this account to be transferred to the State once the authority to do so is established.

Glenn Yasui, State DOT Highways Division Administrator, indicated that Senate Bill No. 1404, Senate Draft 1, House Draft 1 was to have provided such an authority. Although this bill did not pass through the State Legislature this year, it should not be a problem if it does not pass until next year. Doug Meller, from the DOT Highway Planning Branch, indicated that a 5% State administrative fee would probably be applied. Councilmember Romy Cachola raised the concern that the City and State administrative fees were reducing the monies available for the highway projects.

Vice Chair Cal Kawamoto arrived at 2:45 p.m., during the discussion.

Chair Garcia requested that DPP submit, for the records, a written summary of their briefing.

IV. OTHER BUSINESS

Past Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Issues
Mr. Lum went over past ITS issues:

• City Traffic Control Center (TCC) Expansion: DOT signed the construction plans on July 2, 2002 and issued a permit for construction on September 3, 2002.
  
• Signal Operations Technical Committee: The committee has been formed and meets about once a month to discuss traffic signal issues on the part of both the City and State facilities. They also discuss projects impacting signals. These meetings have been very productive.
  
• Halawa Interchange Fiber Optic Connection: DOT will construct the fiber optic link to connect the H-3 tunnel with the City TCC as part of the Waimalu Viaduct Widening. Mr. Yasui stated that the project has already been advertised; notice to proceed should be given later this year.

Certification of OMPO Process
Mr. Lum reported that the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration conducted their certification review of the OMPO process on April 29-30, 2003. It was Mr. Lum's understanding that the federal agencies had not found any noncompliance issues - assuming the RTP is on schedule for Policy Committee's endorsement in April 2006. The results of the Certification Review should be finalized by September 2003.

Title VI & Environmental Justice (T6/EJ) Monitoring Contract
Mr. Lum reported that Carter & Burgess (CB), the 1st ranked consultant for the T6/EJ Monitoring contract, has decided to close its Honolulu office. As such, they will not be signing any contracts out of Honolulu and will not be pursuing this contract. OMPO will now begin negotiations with the 2nd ranked consultant, Lyon Associates.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:01 p.m.