[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: DRCOG Metro Vision Issues Committee--Ecopasses; Weld County's participation in the TAC

[kohls at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

As you know, the Metro Vision Issues Committee (MVIC) meets once a month. It is a subset of the Board of Directors of DRCOG, with a maximum of 26 members. On MVIC, Cindy Domenico represents Boulder County; I represent the City.

Good things happened yesterday. 

1.  DRCOG has a pool of money from the Federal Highway Administration--$1.3MM to $1.4MM in each of the next two years--that is available for Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Programs by sponsor entities on a competitive basis. The entities apply for grants from the TDM pool. DRCOG staff wrote criteria for the grant applications that would have essentially excluded Ecopass applications by neighborhoods, business districts and low income sectors. MVIC representatives from Boulder, Boulder County, and Denver worked with other interested jurisdictions including Louisville, Lyons, and Nederland, and interested entities including the Southwest Denver Business Partnership, US36 Commuting Solutions and others to open the grant process to subsidized pass programs. Douglas County moved the staff position; I moved a rider to the staff position stating explicitly that "transit pass subsidy programs be eligible to compete for funding in the upcoming Regional TDM Program Pool, to the extent that the FHWA confirms that such programs are consistent with federal funding guidelines." The motion passed unanimously.

Special thanks in achieving this result go to: Will Toor, Randall Rutsch, Martha Roskowski, all of whom worked assiduously behind the scenes.

2.  Weld County was held to a single seat on the state's Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC). Weld County wanted 2 seats on the TAC, where they now have 1. Arapahoe, Douglas and Broomfield County reps must be getting lonely on the TAC, because they argued in favor of giving Weld County another seat. Those counties would like to have another representative more aligned with their planning activities. But also, municipalities on MVIC realized, I think, that counties often times represent a more rural perspective on transportation, perhaps less sympathetic to the integration of land use and transportation. I moved that Weld continue to have only one seat. There was extended debate (for DRCOG), which included an acknowledgement that Weld County displays Zero interest in cooperating with other jurisdictions on planning and transportation. The motion passed 13-5.


Macon Cowles
Boulder City Councilor