DATE: April 23, 2024
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Authorizing the City Manager to (1) Accept and Appropriate $6,206,508 in Grant Funding from the California Air Resource Board; and 2) Approve a Resource Contribution of $3,500 from Transportation System Improvement Fund 460 for the Safe Routes and Active Transportation for Schools and Underserved Communities in Hayward Project Nos. 06937 and 06941
RECOMMENDATION
That Council adopts a resolution (Attachment II) authorizing the City Manager to accept and appropriate $6,206,508 in Grant Funding from the California Air Resource Board and approve a resource contribution of $3,500 from Fund 460 for the Safe Routes and Active Transportation for Schools and Underserved Communities in Hayward Project.
SUMMARY
The City has been awarded funding from the California Air Resource Board’s (CARB’s) Clean Mobility in School (CMIS) and Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP) Grant Programs for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 to implement Safe Routes and Active Transportation for Schools and Underserved Communities in Hayward (Project). CMIS and STEP are state programs that aim to increase transportation equity by identifying and addressing communities’ transportation needs, increasing access to key destinations and services, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. Staff recommends adopting a resolution to accept and appropriate $6,206,508 of grant funding awarded to the City from CARB and approve a resource contribution of $3,500 from Fund 460 Transportation System Improvement.
BACKGROUND
In July 2023, CARB issued a statewide competitive joint request for applications under the Planning and Capacity Building (Planning), CMIS, and STEP programs with an overarching goal of increasing transportation equity in disadvantaged (DAC) communities throughout California. Through the Low Carbon Transportation Investment Fiscal Year 2022-23 Funding Plan, CARB has allocated $3 million to Planning, $14.8 million to CMIS, and $14.85 million to STEP grants.
The CMIS program focuses on supporting public school communities by funding innovative and holistic projects with the potential to benefit the school communities and nearby residents. The STEP program supports projects that have the potential to reduce passenger vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and that prioritize long-term mode shifts toward sustainable mobility and VMT reduction. The grant requires partnerships between a lead applicant, sub-applicants, and community partners. Sub-applicants collaborate with the lead applicant (City) to implement the project and community partners serve as key stakeholders and representatives of the community potentially impacted by the project. The grant included a two-phase process: Concept Phase and Full Phase; the eligible applicants selected during the Concept Phase were invited to the Full Phase.
On September 8, 2023, the City submitted a Concept Phase application for both CMIS and STEP grants in partnership with Hayward Unified School District (HUSD), Bike East Bay (BEB), Teach Earth Action (TEA), and Bike Hayward to implement Safe Routes to School (SR2S) project, a citywide bike voucher program, bike parking installations near key destinations, and bike education program and workshops. HUSD is a public educational agency and BEB is a nonprofit organization that advocates for improved bicycle safety and increased bicycle infrastructure in Hayward. TEA is a nonprofit comprised of faculties across disciplines to reimagine teaching to confront the climate crisis. Bike Hayward is a local group that supports improved bike infrastructure in Hayward.
The City was invited to apply for the Full Phase Application on September 25, 2023, with the final application submitted on November 3, 2023. The project scope in the Full Phase application was expanded to include bike parking installations at school sites, school crossing guard training, and additional active transportation engagements and activities for students. Partnership with TransForm, a nonprofit organization that has been working on SR2S implementation for the Alameda County Transportation Commission, was also added to collaborate on school community outreach and bike voucher program developments.
On January 4, 2024, the City was notified by CARB that the City’s grant application was selected for partial award funding of $5,257,087. Subsequently, CARB reassessed the remaining available funding and announced on March 1, 2024, that the City’s full requested amount of $6,206,508 will be awarded to the City.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of the grant project, Safe Routes and Active Transportation for Schools and Underserved Communities in Hayward, is to provide and promote safe, affordable active transportation while reducing transportation-related emissions for residents, especially in DAC and low-income (LI) communities. Based on the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (2020), the majority of residents travel by car and have expressed a lack of safe infrastructure and secure bike parking as barriers to walking and biking. The proposed project will address the community’s concerns and encourage active transportation by providing (1) an SR2S implementation project for 12 schools, (2) a Citywide bike voucher program, (3) bike parking installations near the City’s key destinations and school sites, and (4) active transportation education and promotion including bike classes, engagement events, and crossing guard training. The following is the list of twelve schools for the SR2S implementation project:
Burbank Elementary School
Faith Ringgold
Impact Academy
Longwood Elementary School
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
Park Elementary School
Schafer Park Elementary School
Southgate Elementary School
Tennyson High School
Tyrrell Elementary School
Winton Middle School
Palma Ceia Elementary School
It is noted that the school safety assessments have been conducted at the above schools through Alameda County’s SR2S program. The grant project includes infrastructure updates for these schools based on recommendations from the SR2S safety assessments.
The City partnered with a local agency and nonprofit organizations to collectively develop and implement the project that addresses the needs of the community residents. The sub-applicants for the grant project are HUSD (public agency), TransForm (nonprofit), TEA (nonprofit), and BEB (nonprofit). Bike Hayward (local group) is the Community Partner. HUSD and TransForm will help facilitate engagement with schools, students, and student families based on their existing relationships for the SR2S implementation project, active transportation education and promotion, and bike parking installations at school sites. TransForm will also assist the City with the bike voucher program development based on their expertise. BEB will host bicycle educational classes and events for students and community members and provide any feedback related to bike parking and the bike voucher program. TEA will hire Chabot College student interns to help with community outreach and conduct surveys for the bike voucher program. Additionally, Bike Hayward will also assist with community outreach and will be consulted about the implementation of the project.
As required by CARB, at least 50 percent of the total proposed budget will fund projects located within LI and DAC census tracts in the City. The grant project will be in compliance with this requirement as the majority of schools for SR2S infrastructure improvements are within LI census tracts and the bike voucher program will include larger bike subsidies for LI and DAC residents.
The funding agreement with CARB will need to be executed following the approval of this resolution. The total budget for the City’s scope of work for the grant project is $6,210,008, which is reimbursement-based after the contract is executed with CARB. The City contribution amount will be $3,500. The resource contribution was not required by CARB but was added to the budget to cover ineligible expenses for the community outreach.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
City residents, including students and their families, will benefit from improved active transportation infrastructure, bike subsidies, and active transportation education.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City’s grant funding match is $3,500 which will come from the Fund 460 Transportation System Improvement. The $6,206,508 in CARB funding and City grant funding match will be split among two projects as shown below:
Project Description
Project Number
Estimated Cost
Safe Routes to School Implementation Project
06941
$2,258,288
Active Transportation Incentive and Promotion Program
06937
$3,951,720
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports the Strategic Priority of Confront Climate Crisis & Champion Environmental Justice and Invest in Infrastructure. Specifically, this project relates to the implementation of the following projects:
Confront Climate Crisis & Champion Environmental Justice Project C6: Improve e-bike adoption through the creation of an e-bike rebate program and ensuring that electric transit infrastructure such as EV chargers also serve e-bike and not just electric cars Invest in Infrastructure
Project N1: Continue to implement major corridor traffic calming initiatives.
Project N2: Develop a micro-mobility policy (eBikes, eScooters) Project N4: Implement Safe Routes for School, with a focus on Cesar Chavez and Palma Ceia.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
The implementation of the project would encourage and incentivize walking and biking for the residents thereby reducing automobile dependency and greenhouse gas emissions over time.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Robust public outreach and engagement will be implemented as the project moves forward. All necessary stakeholders and affected neighborhoods, agencies, community-based organizations, and businesses will have opportunities for input and be done in a way that is equitable.
NEXT STEPS
If Council approves this request, the City Manager will enter into a funding agreement with CARB for a total amount of $6,206,508 of state fund and $3,500 local matching fund. Once the funding agreement is executed, staff will begin the process to perform the scope of work.
Prepared by: Jade Kim, Assistant Transportation Engineer Byron Tang, Senior Transportation Engineer
Erik Pearson, Environmental Services Manager
Hugh Louch, Deputy Director of Public Works
Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
______________________________________
Kelly McAdoo, City Manager