SANDAG approves RTP public involvement program

The San Diego Association of Governments approved the public involvement program for the upcoming comprehensive Regional Transportation Plan.

A 12-0 board vote October 27 approved the public outreach program for the 2007 Regional Transportation Plan.

“We’re recommending that we do a little bit more research than we’ve done in the past,” said SANDAG executive director Gary Gallegos.

Periodic updates to a Regional Transportation Plan are required by Federal statute, as is public input. “We’re just taking it another step further,” SANDAG transportation committee chairman and Solana Beach City Council member Joe Kellejian said of the public input process. “It’s just good public policy.”

One of the goals of the public involvement effort is to reach out to non-traditional as well as traditional audiences. That effort is intended to address “environmental justice” issues as well as to allow members of the public to provide meaningful input during the early phases of the plan update. The RTP update public involvement process will also be combined with the public involvement programs to develop the Coordinated Public Transit and Human Services Transportation Plan.

“Just garnering as much public comment as we can is very important to this process,” Kellejian said.

The objectives of the public involvement program include participation from a broad range of groups and individuals, increased awareness and opportunities for public input, information to local residents and other stakeholders, stimulation of dialogue about the transportation challenges facing the region, realistic solutions addressing the diverse mobility needs of the region’s travelers, and broad public support for the improvements of the 2007 RTP.

SANDAG has already awarded grant funding to several community organizations (none located in the county’s unincorporated area) to conduct outreach activities in order to secure public involvement. The efforts also include information at regularly-scheduled meetings, development of Web pages for the outreach effort, information through brochures and newsletters or other publications, a media outreach program, a SANDAG speakers bureau, and subregional meetings and workshops. SANDAG public hearings will also take place toward the final phases of the plan’s adoption.