City Council Staff Report Page 1 of 5 September 23, 2025 Agenda Item No. 6.2
DATE: September 23, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Jennifer Phan, Deputy City Manager
SUBJECT: Receive a Report on the Revised Funding Allocation Request to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from the Regional Measure 3 Dumbarton Corridor Improvements Program for Quarry Lakes Parkway, City Project No. 18-04
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff recommends that the City Council receive a report on the revised funding allocation request to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from the Regional Measure 3 Dumbarton Corridor Improvements Program for the Quarry Lakes Parkway, City Project No. 18-04.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
This agenda item is aligned with the following:
Goal C, Strategy 2: Economic, Community Development, and Public Safety – Facilitate the build-out of the greater Station District Area through the construction of the Quarry Lakes Parkway, upgrades to the BART Station, and completion of the Pedestrian Rail Crossing, as well as the sale and development of City-owned land.
Goal D, Strategy 2: Environmental Sustainability and Infrastructure – Implement the City’s capital improvement plan.
BACKGROUND
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), a regional planning agency, has been designated as the federal Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the state Regional Transportation Agency (“RTPA”) for the San Francisco Bay Area. At designated times, MTC receives available regional, state, and federal funds as an MPO and RTPA, and, in turn, provides these funds to local agencies for planning and programming transportation, transit, land use, or other projects relevant to MTC or its statutory purposes.
To solve the Bay Area’s growing traffic congestion problems, voters in 2018 approved Regional Measure 3 (RM 3) to finance $4.45 billion for highways and transit Agenda Item No. 6.2
City Council Staff Report Page 2 of 5 September 23, 2025 improvements through a one dollar increase in tolls for the region’s seven (7) state-owned toll bridges, including the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, the Dumbarton Bridge, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the Benicia-Martinez Bridge, the Carquinez Bridge and the Antioch Bridge. The previous toll measures approved by voters in the nine Bay Area counties – Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Napa, Marin, Solano, and Sonoma – included Regional Measure 1 (RM 1) in 1988 and Regional Measure 2 (RM 2) in 2004. The Dumbarton Express, which provides regional transit service for the residents of Alameda County to the jobs in San Mateo County, has received operating and capital improvement funds through these past toll measure programs. However, there has not been significant funding for local projects to improve the east-west commute along the Dumbarton-Decoto Road Corridor, a High Injury Network (HIN) in Southern Alameda County, from these past toll measures.
The Regional Measure 3 Expenditure Plan has identified a list of “Corridor-Specific Capital Projects” and, under the list of projects for the South (San Mateo-Hayward, Dumbarton), $130 million has been programmed for the Dumbarton Corridor Improvement (see Attachment 1 for the RM 3 Expenditure Plan).
The statute description for the Dumbarton Corridor Improvement states:
This Funding planning, environmental review, design, and construction of capital improvements with the Dubarton Bridge and rail corridors in the Counties of Alameda and San Mateo to relieve congestion, increase passenger throughput, and offer reliable travel times. Eligible projects include, but are not limited to, the projects recommended in the Dumbarton Corridor Transportation Study and improvements to facilitate rail and transit connectivity among the Altamont Commuter Express, Capitol Corridor, and Bay Area Rapid Transit, including rail connection at the Shinn Station. The project sponsors are the Bay Area Toll Authority, Alameda County Transportation Commission, San Mateo County Transit District, and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority.” The Dumbarton Corridor Transportation Study, completed in 2017, discussed the proposed Dumbarton Rail Corridor service connecting Caltrain in San Mateo County to BART in Alameda County at the Union City BART Station. In 2019, San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) partnered with Facebook on the Dumbarton Rail Corridor (DRC) Study to review and evaluate alignments and types of rail modes for connecting San Mateo County to Alameda County along the Dumbarton-Decoto Corridor. This study was put on hold in 2021 and has not been completed.
MTC’s Southern Alameda County Integrated Rail Study (SoCo Rail), Phase 2, completed in 2023, has recommended the proposed “Shinn Station” option at the Union City Intermodal Station, which currently serves BART, AC Transit, Dumbarton Express, Union City Transit, and potential future ACE service.
In early 2023, with guidance from then-Mayor and MTC Commissioner Carol DutraVernaci, the southern Alameda County cities of Fremont and Newark, as well as AC Transit and Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC), began identifying potential capital improvement projects along or parallel to the DumbartonDecoto Road Corridor that were ready for construction within the next five years.
Agenda Item No. 6.2
City Council Staff Report Page 3 of 5 September 23, 2025 The Quarry Lakes Parkway Project and the BART At-Grade Pedestrian Crossing Project clearly meet the statute language for the RM 3, Dumbarton-Decoto Road Corridor Improvement program funds. Also, these projects are identified in Alameda CTC’s Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP) and MTC’s Plan Bay Area (PBA) 2050 Plus.
In early 2023, Union City submitted the initial project information to Alameda CTC and MTC, requesting $25.0 million for Quarry Lakes Parkway and $3.0 million for the BART At-Grade Pedestrian Crossing for their review and comments. In February 2024, MTC met with project sponsors to review and discuss all potential projects under consideration.
On June 24, 2024, at the MTC Commission Meeting, the Commission unanimously approved the staff recommendation for programming $130 million to projects in Alameda and San Mateo County, with $72.0 million for specific projects in Fremont, Newark, and Union City. The MTC action approved the award of a total of $28.0 million to Union City projects, $25.0 million for Quarry Lakes Parkway, and $3.0 million for the Union City BART East Entrance and At-Grade Crossing.
DISCUSSION
On January 14, 2025, City Council adopted Resolution No. 2025-007, authorizing the City Manager to submit an Allocation Request to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from the Regional Measure 3 Dumbarton Corridor Improvements Program, in the amount of $3,507,000, and accepting Alameda County Transportation Commission’s designation of the City of Union City as Implementing Agency for the Quarry Lakes Parkway, City Project No. 18-04.
On June 24, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2025-087, authorizing the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 3 to the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) Project Funding Agreement (PFA) No. A22-0053 to accept an additional $3,995,000, for a total PFA of $8,996,191, for the Final Design of Phase (Segment) 2 for the Quarry Lakes Parkway (East West Connector) Project, City Project No. 18-04, allowing for the preparation of Final Plans, Specifications, and Estimate (PS&E) by summer of 2026 for advertisement and award by late 2026/early 2027.
Staff proposes a new resolution to supersede Resolution No. 2025-007, one that will enable the City to request the entire grant award of $25.0 million of Regional Measure 3 Dumbarton Corridor Improvements Program funds. To meet the MTC funding requirements, the City proposes the following RM 3 funding plan:
QLP Project Component MTC RM 3 Funding Allocation
Environmental Offsite Mitigation $20,000,000
QLP, Phase 1A Construction $1,500,000
QLP, Phase 2 Construction $3,500,000
TOTAL RM 3 FUNDS $25,000,000
The $20,000,000 for Environmental Offsite Mitigation identified above is to fund part of Option 2, Environmental Offsite Mitigation, estimated at $30,138,000 as noted on Attachment 1. The remaining $10,138,000 would likely be funded with Alameda CTC funds. As highlighted in yellow, City staff were not convinced that the Line M Detention Agenda Item No. 6.2
City Council Staff Report Page 4 of 5 September 23, 2025 Basin-Pump Station, City Project No. 03-25 (New Basin), which was constructed by the City back in 2005 at a cost of about $900,000, could be defined by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) as a “Seasonal Pond”.
On July 8, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2025-097, authorizing the City Manager to submit an Allocation Request to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for the Regional Measure 3 Dumbarton Corridor Improvements Program and accepting Alameda County Transportation Commission’s designation of the City of Union City as the Implementing Agency for the Quarry Lakes Parkway, City Project No. 18-04 (see Attachment 2 for the City Council Presentation).
For the past several months, the consultant team and City staff have met and coordinated with RWQCB staff to finalize the Environmental Mitigation Options as noted above. At a meeting with RWQCB on June 3, 2025, City staff reiterated that the Line M Detention Basin-Pump Station should not be defined as a “Seasonal Pond”. RWQCB requested additional technical information from the project team, including Public Works Maintenance information. On July 21, 2025, City staff submitted the Line M Detention Basin-Pump Station Memorandum to the RWQCB to provide the history and use of the detention basin (see Attachment 3). On August 4, 2025, the City received an email from RWQCB staff providing concurrence on the findings and authorization to move forward with Option 1, estimated at $13,080,000.
Based on the reduced Environmental Mitigation Cost, City staff met with Alameda CTC on August 12, 2025, to discuss strategies to revise the RM 3, Dumbarton Corridor Funding Allocation Request, followed by a meeting with MTC on September 4, 2025, to discuss and update MTC staff on the proposed RM 3 funding revision (see Attachment 4).
The revised RM 3, Dumbarton Corridor Funding Allocation Request funding for Quary Lakes Parkway, City Project No. 18-04, is outlined below:
QLP Project
Component Use of Funds
MTC RM3
Funding
Allocation
Environmental Offsite
Mitigation
For the construction of the Environmental Offsite
Mitigation (Jeff Oberling, Rocky Ridge LLC)
$13,000,000
QLP, Phase 1 Final
Design
For Mark Thomas to complete the Final PS&E
(Plans, Specifications, and Estimate), ready for
advertisement
$2,578,000
QLP, Phase 1A
Construction
For Phase 1 Impacts to the Corp Yard and
Temporary Site for transit fleets during
Construction
$1,000,000
QLP, Phase 2
Construction
For the Construction Phase, including CM
services
$8,422,000
TOTAL RM3 FUNDS $25,000,000
Agenda Item No. 6.2
City Council Staff Report Page 5 of 5 September 23, 2025 On September 10, 2025, the City Manager submitted the revised RM 3, Dumbarton Corridor Funding Allocation Request Package to Andrew Fremier, MTC Executive Director, with a copy to Tony Tavares, Alameda CTC Executive Director, for both agencies to review and approve (see Attachment 5).
Resolution No. 2025-0978, adopted by the City Council on July 8, 2025, is an MTC RM 3 standard funding resolution providing the City Manager authority to make non-substantive changes or minor amendments to the allocation request as they deem appropriate. The revised RM 3 funding revision redistributes funds due to the savings in Environmental Mitigation costs. It provides funding for the Final Design of QLP, Phase 1, from 65% PS&E to Final PS&E, at which time the project will be ready for advertisement.
The revised RM 3 Funding Allocation Request package is tentatively scheduled for approval by the Alameda CTC at their Programs and Projects Committee and Commission Meetings in October 2025 and by the MTC at their Commission Meeting in November 2025. The City expects to receive the RM3 Project Funding Agreement for Quarry Lakes Parkway in December 2025.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no impact on the General Fund.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council receive a report on the revised allocation request to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from the Regional Measure 3 Dumbarton Corridor Improvements Program for the Quarry Lakes Parkway, City Project No. 18-04.
Prepared by: Marilou Ayupan, Public Works Director
Submitted by: Marilou Ayupan, Public Works Director
Attachments
1. Attachment 1 - QLP Off-Site Mitigation Options Costs
2. Attachment 2 - July 8, 2025 - MTC RM 3 Funding Presentation
3. Attachment 3 - Line M Basin Maintenance Memo with Attachments (dated July 21, 2025)
4. Attachment 4 - MTC-AlaCTC-Union City QLP Funding Meeting Presentation
5. Attachment 5 - MTC Revised RM 3 Funding Allocation Request Package