City on Tap to Receive $6.6 Million for Transit Projects

The city could receive more than $6.6 million in funding from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) for the first five years of the Measure M Multiyear Subregional Plan (MSP) program, which Los Angeles voters approved during the November 8, 2016 elections.

Measure M, or the Los Angeles County Traffic Improvement Plan, was placed on the ballot by the Metro Board of Directors.

With its approval, the projects and programs in the Expenditure Plan of the Measure M Ordinance were also approved, laying the foundation for the Measure M guidelines which were adopted in June 2017.

Measure M procedures were adopted in February 2018, defining the project types as well as specifying administrative procedures and guidelines. The guidelines directed each subregion to draft a five-year Multi-year Subregional Plan (MSP) for the expenditure of their Measure M funds.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, the Pasadena Department of Transportation will seek the Council’s approval for the City Manager to execute all agreements associated with the receipt of the funds from Metro. These funds will total $6,670,632 to cover four Measure M projects in Pasadena.

The projects were decided on after a lengthy process that included city officials partnering first with the Arroyo Verdugo Communities Joint Powers Authority (AVCJPA) – which includes member agencies from Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, South Pasadena, and the Los Angeles County’s fifth District, which includes La Crescenta and Montrose – to complete the MSP, according to a Department of Transportation report.

After Metro released the funding amounts in October 2017, the Governing Board of the AVCJPA decided to use Metro Planning funds to hire a consultant to examine the projects and provide project recommendations for the communities and the Board to consider.

On April 27, 2018, a Funding Agreement was executed between AVCJPA and Metro for the planning activities for the MSP. The AVCJPA and its consultant led the plan development process, which included working with the member agencies and a public participation process. Pasadena Department of Transportation staff along with the AVCJPA Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) drafted a list of projects, which was presented to the city of Pasadena TAC on September 27, 2018.

The Pasadena City Council approved the list on October 29, 2018, after which the AVCJPA reviewed the list and presented it to Metro.

The four City of Pasadena projects approved during the process are classified into two programs: the Modal Connectivity and Complete Streets Program, which includes the Avenue 64 Complete Street Project, and the North Hill Avenue Complete Street Project; and the Transit Program which includes the purchase of replacement buses and the establishment of a Pasadena Transit Maintenance Facility, according to the Transportation Department’s report.

The report said the Avenue 64 Complete Street Project will use up to $1.8 million of the Measure M funds, and the North Hill Avenue Complete Street Project will cost $1,135,020.

Purchasing replacement buses will use up to $700,000, and the establishment of a Pasadena Transit Maintenance Facility will cost up to $3,035,612, the report added.

A funding agreement for each of the four projects will still be prepared by Metro and submitted to the City for approval, the report said.

Project planning for the Modal Connectivity and Complete Streets Program projects is to begin this fiscal year, with the outreach and design phases expected to be completed in fiscal year 2021. Construction will begin following the completion of final design.

In the Transit Program category, the replacement buses will be procured in fiscal year 2021. The Pasadena Transit Maintenance Facility is an ongoing planning and design effort.

The report said all four projects have been included in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) with anticipated cash flows to be updated once the funding agreements have been executed.