Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Minutes of the Meeting of June 26, 2017 – 4:30 p.m. Two Chatham Center ● Suite 400 ● 112 Washington Place ● Pittsburgh, PA 15219 The one hundred twenty-fifth meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission was called to order by Chairman Chuck Anderson. Members present were: Tony Amadio, Charles Anderson, Michael Baker, Alan Blahovec, Kevin Boozel, Scott Bricker, Bob Brooks, Daniel C. Camp, III, Tom Ceraso, Gina Cerilli, Dave Coder, Jack Cohen, Steve Craig, David Donahoe, Sandy Egley, Rich Fitzgerald, James Foringer, Kimberly Geyer, Joe Grata, Kelly Gray, Richard Hadley, Lynn Heckman, Charles Jones, Jr., Fred Junko, Ted Kopas, Clifford Levine, David Lohr, Robert Macey, Larry Maggi, Jeff Marshall, Robbie Matesic, Kevin McCullough, Amy McKinney, David Miller, Erin Molchany, Leslie Osche, Johnna Pro, Mavis Rainey, Jim Ritzman, Rodney Ruddock, Aurora Sharrard, Harlan Shober, Michael Silvestri, George Skamai, Byron Stauffer, Jr., Jim Struzzi, Archie Trader, Diana Irey Vaughan, Vincent Vicites, Dan Vogler, Christopher Wheat, Angela Zimmerlink, and Blair Zimmerman. Others: Senator James Brewster; Senator Jay Costa; Representative Marc Gergley; Representative Bill Kortz; Ann Ogoreuc, Allegheny County Economic Development; Ken Zapinski, Allegheny Conference on Community Development; Angela Saunders, PennDOT District 12; Jason Rigone, Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation; Amie Downs and Austin Davis, Allegheny County; Michael Boyd, Wilkins Township Commissioners; Grant Ervin, City of Pittsburgh; Theresa Clift, Tribune Review; Nick Paradise, Kennywood Park; Margaret Krauss, WESA; Tom Lench, Citizen; Ed Blazina, Post- Gazette; Mark Gordon, Butler County; Scott Harshman, Three Rivers Marine & Rail; Joe Kirk, Construction Legislative Council; Jon Kasitz, Citizen; Don David, West Mifflin Borough; Robert Baum, Wilson Baum Agency; Ronald Angerman, Citizen; Pat Cloonan, Herald-Standard; Maury Burgwin, Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce; Christopher Whitlatch, Mon Valley Alliance; Jim Smith, Economic Growth Connection; Chad Amond, Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce, Anthony Castellone, ASCE Pittsburgh; Keith Johnson, Gannett Fleming; Ron Engerman, Citizen; and William Petrucci, HDR. Staff: Jim Hassinger, Kirk Brethauer, Dan Alwine, Dom D’Andrea, Linda Duffy, Chuck Imbrogno, Vince Massaro, Shannon O’Connell, Dee Pamplin, Doug Smith, Abby Stark, Kathy Stefani, Kay Tomko, David Totten, Lew Villotti and Andy Waple. 1. Chairman Anderson called to order the June 26, 2017 meeting of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Chairman Anderson called for a Roll Call of SPC Commissioners in attendance. Mr. Massaro, Secretary- Treasurer for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Corporation, called the roll call of Commissioners resulting in 53 Commissioners present, including 7 via conference call. a. Quorum – There being a quorum present the meeting proceeded. b. Any Conflict of Interest Declarations on Action Items – None. 2. Action on Minutes of the March 20, 2017 Meeting A motion was made to approve the minutes of the March 20, 2017 meeting by Commissioner Steve Craig which was seconded by Erin Molchany. The affirmative vote was unanimous. 3. Public Comment Chairman Anderson asked that members of the public, who had signed in to speak, to please keep comments to three minutes. Michael Boyd, Wilkins Township Board of Commissioners – spoke against the amendment – unanimously opposed to the Mon-Fayette Expressway project; spoke at March meeting as well; comments attached. Joe Kirk, representing Construction Legislative Council in Western Pennsylvania – spoke for the amendment; the Council is unanimously in favor of the Mon-Fayette Expressway project. Maury Burgwin, President, Mon Yough Chamber of Commerce – Spoke for the amendment - Mon- Fayette Expressway will yield economic development in Mon Valley due to available sites/parcels; comments attached. Dan Davis, representing West Mifflin Borough – Spoke for the amendments - support Mon-Fayette Expressway; economic development benefits; in favor of Mon-Fayette Expressway. Robert Baum, representing himself, a businessman in McKeesport – spoke in favor of the amendment; McKeesport residents and businesses need the Mon-Fayette Expressway. Ron Engerman, representing himself, a citizen from McKeesport – spoke in favor of the amendment - Mon Valley has been short changed; Mon-Fayette Expressway is important to Valley. Chad Amond, Chair of SPC’s PPP for Westmoreland County – representing Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce - spoke in favor of the amendment; lack of transportation investments hurting the Eastern suburbs; to stop now does not make sense. Christopher Whitlatch, CEO, Mon Valley Alliance – Spoke in favor of the amendment - promise was made to connect Mon Valley to region by completing Mon-Fayette Expressway. Jim Smith, President and CEO, Economic Growth Connection – spoke in favor of the amendment; companies struggle to move product, comments attached. Jason Rigone, Executive Director, Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation – spoke in favor of the amendment; supports Mon-Fayette Expressway. Scott Harshman, Government Relations at Three Rivers Marine and Rail Terminals – spoke in favor of the amendment - applaud SPC for recognizing freight and having a vision for transportation in southwestern Pennsylvania; Mon-Fayette Expressway is vital to support freight. 2 All written comments submitted at today’s meeting are attached to these Minutes. Chairman Anderson welcomed two new members to the Commission – David Donahoe, Interim CEO, representing Port Authority of Allegheny County and Alan Blahovec, Executive Director, Westmoreland County Transit Authority, representing the Transit Operators. Alan is the new chairman of the Transit Operators’ Committee. 4. Status Report on Mon-Fayette Expressway – Doug Smith Mr. Smith recapped the project proposed by the Turnpike Commission and reviewed the recent project timeline. He also provided updates on activities since the actions related to this project were tabled at the March Commission meeting. The Commissioners were sent links via email of input received on the Mon/Fayette Expressway: 1. Correspondence between PTC and SPC on Mon/Fayette Expressway; 2. Comments/Correspondence Received after the Close of Public Comment on the Mon/Fayette Expressway and 3. Media Articles on the Mon/Fayette Expressway. All correspondence and comments can be found on SPC’s website at http://www.spcregion.org/misc/ Doug reviewed the maps that the Turnpike has used to show the Mon-Fayette Expressway and Southern Beltway projects. The primary purpose of the project is to bring economic development and revitalization to the Mon Valley by connecting the three east-west interstates (I-68, I-70 and I-76/376) with a north- south highway connection. The map indicated which sections have been completed, what is currently under construction, and what remains to be completed. As some of the speakers noted, the system when complete, would create a beltway around the southern part of Pittsburgh and provide additional resiliency and redundancy to the roadway network in the event that there were problems with some of the pieces of critical infrastructure through the urban core including the Squirrel Hill and Fort Pitt Tunnels and the Fort Pitt Bridge. Prior to Act 89, this project had stalled because of a lack of funding. As part of Act 89, the legislature dedicated funding to the Turnpike Commission for the purpose of these expansion projects. We were contacted in June 2015 by the Turnpike Commission as they were restarting this project and were asked to coordinate in terms of a Long Range Transportation Plan amendment, air quality conformity testing and other outreach. Since that time, there have been a number of things that have happened including a number of public outreach meetings by both the Turnpike Commission and by our own staff. The Turnpike submitted their financial strategy in December 2016 illustrating how they intended to pay for the project. Subsequent to that, SPC conducted a 30-day public review and comment period. Turnpike Commission staff were also here in January to give the Commission a briefing in advance of that public comment period. In March, the two associated resolutions were tabled in order to provide time for gathering additional information. Doug noted some key points that Commissioners asked for clarification on in March. • EIS/ROD reevaluation includes updated traffic projections and confirmation of purpose and need • Air quality analyses consistent with current federal regulations and guidance • Project schedule (ability to expedite) is largely a function of funding/cash flow, but also considers construction industry capacity • PTC funding and projects are established by the General Assembly and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and cannot be repurposed without legislative action 3 Doug also noted that since March, the Port Authority completed a feasibility analysis of an extension of the East Busway, so while the original highway alignment along the Mon River is no longer part of the proposed project, there is potential to serve that transportation movement in the future with an extension of the East Busway and a multimodal connection between the Busway and the MFE. This is one of the alternatives that was studied by the Port Authority. Michael Silvestri commented that based on the original map, he feels that the section of the Southern Beltway that is not completed yet would have