City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: NOVEMBER 4, 2015
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of a Resolution for a Competitive Grant Application to the Virginia Department of Transportation for FY 2017 Revenue Sharing Program Funding. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]
BODY
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ISSUE: Consideration of a resolution for a competitive grant application to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) for Revenue Sharing Program FY 2017 funding in the amount of $2.65 million for citywide street and alley reconstruction and resurfacing of major roads.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
(1) Adopt the attached resolution (Attachment 1) to apply for a FY 2017 Revenue Sharing Program funding allocation from the VDOT for the citywide street and alley reconstruction and resurfacing of major roads; and
(2) Authorize the City Manager to submit this resolution and enter into any agreements with the State that may be required to receive these funds should the requested allocation be approved.
BACKGROUND: The Commonwealth of Virginia's Revenue Sharing Program provides funding for use by a county, city, or town to construct, reconstruct, improve or maintain the highway systems within such county, city, or town and for eligible rural additions in certain counties of the Commonwealth. Locality funds are matched, dollar for dollar, with State funds, with certain limitations on the amount of State funds authorized per locality.
Applications for revenue sharing funds must be made by resolution of the governing body of the applicant jurisdiction, and funding is allocated by resolution of the Commonwealth Transportation Board. The Revenue Sharing Program is intended to provide funding for immediately needed improvements or to supplement funding for existing projects. In 2012, the General Assembly approved several changes to the Revenue Sharing Program, the most significant of which included re-establishing maintenance projects as eligible for Revenue Sharing funding. Beginning in 2014 the Revenue Sharing Program considered applications for maintenance projects consistent with VDOT's operating policies. This includes maintenance work including mill-and-overlay, guardrail replacement, sidewalk repairs and curb & gutter repairs.
DISCUSSION: Consistent with the City's revenue sharing grant submission in FY 2015 and FY 2016, and consistent with the Council adopted FY 2016-2025 Capital Improvement Program, staff proposes to submit the entire paving program for revenue sharing funding. Funding for this project would be available to the City in the spring of 2017 in order to support the completion of the proposed FY 2018 paving schedule. If the City Council approves the request, a formal Council resolution must be fully executed and submitted to VDOT by November 23, 2015. The proposed FY 2018 paving schedule, which was developed using the City's pavement management system, is shown as Attachment 2.
The City of Alexandria maintains and manages more than 560 lane miles of paved streets to ensure the safe and efficient movement of people, goods and services. In 2013, City staff completed an updated pavement management inventory. The pavement condition measurement information gathered was used to rank and prioritize the resurfacing of City streets objectively and to develop a multi- year paving schedule and overall pavement management system. In addition factors including geographic equity, utility and development project coordination, and funding availability are taken into consideration during the development of the schedule. Staff will complete an updated pavement management inventory in the spring of 2016 which will be used to further update the multi- year pavement management system.
FISCAL IMPACT: This grant is a 1:1 matching grant. The Alexandria share is $2.65 million and the State match would be $2.65 million for a total of $5.3 million which is consistent with the amount shown in the Council adopted FY 2016-2025 Capital Improvement Program. Due to the VDOT requirement to have local matching funds designated at the time of the grant submission, the City proposes this project as a new project for inclusion in the State's FY 2017 revenue sharing program.
As noted above, the existing FY 2016-2025 Capital Improvement Program includes a planned amount of $5.3 million in FY 2018 of which $3.8 million is programmed to come from City sources. If the revenue sharing application is approved for the full requested amount, the planned City funds in FY 2018 would be utilized for the required 1:1 match. If City funding in FY 2018 is less than the approved revenue sharing amount, an alternate matching source may need to be identified to meet the required 1:1 match. Only non-VDOT funds can be used as the match for revenue sharing funds. It is also important to note that the VDOT revenue sharing funding is subject to availability and approval. Should the FY 2017 VDOT revenue sharing amount (or the City match from the CIP) be reduced from the requested $2.65 million, the scope of the citywide street and alley reconstruction and resurfacing of major roads will be adjusted accordingly.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Resolution
Attachment 2: Proposed FY 2018 Paving Schedule
STAFF:
Emily Baker, P.E., Deputy City Manager
Yon Lambert, AICP, Director, T&ES
Morgan Routt, Acting Director, OMB
Christopher Bever, Assistant Director, OMB
Jeffrey DuVal, Deputy Director, T&ES
Megan Cummings, Acting Division Chief, T&ES
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