On Thursday, February 2, SCAG Regional Council approved recommendations for its Sustainability Planning Grants Program (SPG) to fund 54 projects with $9.6 million (see full list of recommended projects on page 5 here). In total, SCAG received 139 project proposals, requesting nearly $35.5 million across all project categories, from which it identified top ranked projects.

Selected SPG projects include:

• Active Transportation Projects
  • 25 projects, totaling over $4.9 million
  • 14 non-infrastructure, 9 active transportation plans, and 2 mini-grants
  • 7 SRTS projects (including both non-infrastructure and active transportation plans)
• Integrated Land-Use/Green Region Initiative
  • 29 projects, totaling over $4.7 million
  • 6 shared vision plans, 19 focused purpose plans, and 4 mini-grants

Below is a breakdown of SPG distribution throughout the SCAG region:

As we reported on in October, the SPG includes funding from the Regional Active Transportation Program (ATP) to allow for planning and non-infrastructure projects to access ATP funding through a more streamlined process. A total of 11 SPG projects were approved to receive nearly $2.8 million in Regional ATP funds (see overview of Regional ATP below).

SCAG may also be able to fund an additional $2 million in awards for proposals that can make modifications to receive money from non-ATP funding sources (Mobile Source Review Committee). SCAG staff intends to work with some cities to make their projects MSRC eligible and return to the Regional Council in April with recommendations.

To streamline and support more efficient project delivery, SCAG is offering to administer ATP funds on behalf of SPG applicants, should they request assistance.

State Active Transportation Grants

On the same day, SCAG Regional Council also approved its 2017 Regional ATP recommended project list (see full list of recommended projects on page 14 here). A total of 32 projects were recommended, totaling over $56 million funding. The 32 projects are among those that were not selected in the statewide ATP competition and identified through input from the six county transportation commissions.

Selected Regional ATP projects include:

• Implementation Projects
  • 21 projects, totaling $53.2 million
  • 6 SRTS projects, totaling nearly $9.3 million
• Planning and Capacity Building Projects, totaling nearly $2.8 million
  • 3 planning projects, totaling $645k
  • 8 capacity building project, totaling nearly $2.1 million
  • 4 SRTS projects, totaling nearly $1.1 million

Implementation Projects were selected to ensure that each county received its population-based share of available funding. A breakdown of projects within this category by county includes:

• Imperial: 2 projects
• Los Angeles: 8 projects
• Orange: 3 projects
• Riverside: 3 projects
• San Bernardino: 3 projects
• Ventura: 2 projects

Planning and Capacity Building Projects were selected and ranked based on scores received through the SPG application process. A breakdown of projects within this category by county includes:

• Imperial: 1 project
• Los Angeles: 7 projects
• Orange: 1 project
• Riverside: 1 project
• San Bernardino: 1 project
• Ventura: —

The Regional Council approved recommended projects list will now be submitted to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) for approval during their March 2017 meeting. As part of the recommendation process, SCAG Regional Council also approved and will submit to the CTC a Contingency List of projects to fund should a recommended project fail (see full contingency list of projects on page 15 here).