HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.a. Park and Ride funding update4ROSEMOUNTEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CITY COUNCIL
City Council Workshop Meeting: June 9, 2010
AGENDA ITEM: Park and Ride funding update
GE D SECTION:
PREPARED BY: Dwight Johnson, City Administrator
AGENDA NO. 6.A.
ATTACHMENTS:
APPROVED BY:
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Update Item
BACKGROUND
MVTA with assistance from the City applied for federal CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality)
funds for a Park and Ride facility just south of City Hall along with funding for the acquisition of buses
and operating subsidies for the first three years of operation. The total grant request was for $2,386,077
with an additional local match of $596,519 (20% of total project). The cost estimate for the Park and Ride
facility alone has been estimated at $917,000. After a competitive ranking process, the CMAQ Grant has
been approved by the TAB (Transportation Advisory Board) which is the last major step in grant
approval. Official approval by the federal government is mostly a checklist exercise and is expected this
Fall. The grant was approved for the 2013 -2014 funding cycle.
ISSUES
Staff has been working with MVTA and the Met Council staff on several important follow -up issues
relating to this grant which now are becoming clearer:
1. Wlill the Met Council provide the matching funds as they have for similar projects in the part? After previously being
non - committal, Met Council staff is now indicating that they will provide matching funds, meaning that
neither the City nor the MVTA will need to come up with any portion of the $596,519 local match.
2. Wlhatyear is the funding designated for, 2013 or 2014? The answer from the Met Council is 2013.
3. Can the project be advance funded by the City /MVTA andpaid back in 2013? The Met Council is indicating
that not only can the project be advance funded if desired, but that we can advance fund only a portion of
the project such as the physical Park and Ride facililty. The remainder of the project (bus acquisition and
operating subsidies) could still be accomplished in 2013. This would at least allow the current temporary
Park and Ride location at the Community Center to be relocated as early as next year.
4. If another approved CMAQ project in the Metro area is not ready to go in 2011, could we swap places with them and
avoid advance funding altogether and get the Park and Aide facility done in 2011 without any need for advance funding ?
The answer from the Met Council was that not only is this possible, but it is a reasonably likely scenario if
we are ready to go by next March. Their experience is that other projects do slip in their schedule and it
would be helpful to them to have a project ready to move up. The City or MVTA would be responsible
for advance funding only for the 20% match (20% of $909,000) and would be paid back two years later.
SUMMARY
Based on these recent conversations, it appears that that a reasonable scenario exists whereby the City
could construct the Park and Ride with CMAQ grant funds in 2011 while only fronting the 20% matching
requirement, which would be paid back in 2013. Based upon these facts, it would be reasonable for the
City or MVTA to begin engineering plans for the Park and Ride to be ready for opportunities to move up
in funding early next year.
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