October 13, 2016 Presentation of MVRPC Area Projects

MVRPC and ODOT Districts 7 & 8 staff made their annual presentation to the Ohio Transportation Review Advisory Committee (TRAC).  Thank you to the local officials from jurisdictions and Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce for your remarks and attendance!  On behalf of the Region, we thanked TRAC for their previous support of our projects including the Greene US 35 project receiving the highest rating in Ohio this year.  We updated TRAC on recent developments including increasing local and regional funding for the Greene US 35 Superstreet. We emphasized the reduced construction costs by ODOT on the Montgomery US 35 add lane project. Each respective ODOT District presented the design details and benefits from each project.  We made a good impression and are hopeful that the Region will receive funding for these two important projects benefiting the US 35 corridor.

Year 2016 MVRPC Project Funding Requests

On September 1, 2016, the Board formally authorized MVRPC staff to solicit new transportation projects using MVRPC regionally controlled federal funds. Staff solicited MVRPC area jurisdictions from September 7, 2016, to October 5, 2016.  Following is a summary of the applications received, anticipated funding, and the percentage above the available funds. 

After each project is ranked, a final list of recommended projects adhering to the budget will be reviewed by the Technical Advisory Committee in February and then forwarded to the Board of Directors for final approval in March.

Traffic Count Viewer Tool

MVRPC recently updated the online Traffic Count Viewer mapping application, which can be found at the link below. New data, 2012-2015, has been added into the viewer. http://www.mvrpc.org/traffic.

 Little Miami Trail Anniversary

Bob Steinbach represented MVRPC at the 25^th anniversary of the opening of the Little Miami Trail through Yellow Springs.  Other speakers included former Governor Bob Taft, Greene County residents and officials involved in making the Little Miami Trail a reality, and a representative of Springfield, a city also connected to this very popular trail.  Several speakers noted that even though the Trail was initially very controversial in Yellow Springs, it is hard to imagine the Village today without it.  Yellow Springs is a great example of the economic and quality of life impact the Miami Valley Trails can have on a community.

Regional Planning Staff Present in Indianapolis

During October 5 – 7, 2016,  MVRPC staff attended the 2016 Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana (OKI) Regional Planning Conference held in Indianapolis. Under the theme of “Planning to Live, Living to Plan,” this year’s conference featured 20 educational sessions and brought together more than 300 planning professionals from across 3 States.

MVRPC teamed up with representatives from the Great Lakes Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) on a session titled “Painted Little Mapped Dots and Red Dirt Roads – Planning to Live in Rural Centers”.  We presented the experiences of the Jefferson Township Future Land Use Strategic Planning project.   The session was very well received by the audience and we were pleased to share many good stories from the planning process and results from this undertaking. 

Grants & Funding Resources

Each month, MVRPC highlights several grant funding opportunities available at: http://www.mvrpc.org/our-vision/planning-services/grant-and-funding-opportunites, you will find a description, contact information and program links found in GrantFinder, a grant seeking tool leased by MVRPC and a key first step in attracting funding. If you need assistance with your grant pursuit or need further grant research, contact Lynn Zuch, Research Associate, at 937-223-6323 or lzuch@mvrpc.org.  This month we are featuring the following grants:

This month we are featuring information on:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfield Assessment Grant and Brownfield Cleanup Grant; Deadlines for both grants – December 20, 2016
• Ohio Development Services Agency’s Local Government Safety Capital Grant Program; Deadline – January 6, 2017

Upcoming MVRPC Meetings: 

11/08/16   9:00 a.m.  GIS and the Census Training – 10 N. Ludlow St. – Suite 700

11/16/16   9:00 a.m.  GIS Day Map Gallery – 10 N. Ludlow St. – Suite 700

11/17/16   9:30 a.m.  Technical Advisory Committee – 10 N. Ludlow St. – Suite 700

12/01/16   8:30 a.m.  Executive Committee;   9:00 a.m. Board of Directors – 1515 S. Main

12/02/16   8:00 a.m.  Miami Valley Planning and Zoning Workshop – 444 West Third Street, Bldg. 12

November 2016 PDF