8 – Public Involvement and Interagency Review
Participation from a range of stakeholders—including residents, businesses, community organizations, and local governments—in the transportation planning process is important because transportation is vital to our quality of life, and transportation projects can have significant effects on different groups of stakeholders. People rely on transportation infrastructure to get to and from work, school, recreation, and other services. The way we move around can create healthy lifestyles and community vibrancy, as well as support clean air and water. Our economic growth and regional competitiveness also rely on efficient and multiple forms of transportation.
GBNRTC is committed to transparency and to meaningfully engaging the region’s residents throughout the transportation planning and program development process, and strives to provide clear and complete information in an appropriate and timely manner. Active participation by a range of stakeholders improves the understanding of different viewpoints, different needs and concerns, and helps to identify common goals.
Public Involvement
The GBNRTC has developed a public participation plan in consultation with all interested parties for both the MTP and the TIP. [23 CFR 450.316].
The purpose of GBNRTC’s Public Participation Plan is multifold. The Plan provides a framework for GBNRTC staff and member agencies to guide participation processes in transportation planning projects and programs. The Plan identifies ways to continuously improve participation and engagement efforts to better involve a range of stakeholders— particularly residents who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented, such as minority and low-income populations, and those with limited English proficiency—a growing part of the region’s population who may not typically be brought into the planning process.
The Plan can help facilitate a culture of practices in which the public, transportation agencies, and other stakeholders actively and collaboratively address concerns. GBNRTC’s Participation Plan also describes to the public and other stakeholders how to become involved in transportation planning decisions that affect them and their communities. The Plan specifies GBNRTC’s goals for participation, and provides guidance to evaluate participation processes.
This Participation Plan also demonstrates GBNRTC’s compliance with federal requirements for public participation. Overall, these requirements call for MPOs to establish early and continuous public involvement opportunities in a variety of formats to a full range of interested parties.
GBNRTC’s public and stakeholder participation and engagement processes aim to achieve several goals:
Receive early and active public input on transportation planning activities and decisions, and provide timely responses if necessary.
Ensure that the products of transportation planning reflect the needs and concerns of Erie and Niagara Counties’ residents.
Effectively involve a full range of stakeholders, including those who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented, such as minority, low-income or mobility impaired populations, and residents with limited English proficiency.
Educate and inform the community about transportation planning issues and processes, and provide equal access to these opportunities.
The GBNRTC Public Participation Plan is currently in the process of being updated. A survey is being conducted as part of this effort to gather information from the general public as well as its Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) representatives to seek input on, and enhance, our methods in engaging the public.
Low-income and Minority Community Outreach
GBNRTC’s Equity Statement and Title VI Plan describes strategies to integrate the needs and concerns of low-income and minority communities into planning efforts, including creating demographic profile maps of low-income and minority populations for the GBNRTC planning area. These maps help in understanding which communities are prone to environmental justice concerns and assists in targeting public outreach efforts to these groups.
Based on stakeholder input and a review of best practices, the following represent some additional ways the GBNRTC can better engage low-income and minority communities:
Engage with residents at locations in the community (at farmer’s markets, festivals, churches, health centers, etc.)
Conduct personal interviews and focus groups
Use visual materials, including maps and graphics to illustrate data, trends, impacts, options, etc.
Work with community-based organizations and institutions to conduct outreach and organize activities
Limited English Language Proficiency Considerations
GBNRTC’s Equity Statement and Title VI Plan also provides guidance on how to engage residents with limited English language proficiency, including the following activities:
Continue to make Google translate available on the GBNRTC web site.
Provide Spanish language outreach materials from other organizations including federal, state and local transportation agencies when possible.
Identify employees who fluently speak and/or write a language other than English. Detail which of these employees are also able to act as interpreters.
Create a list of outside sources, including the cost of such services that can provide oral translation services.
Develop a list of paid and unpaid translation services.
Make efforts to partner with state and local agencies to provide language translation and interpretation services within the scope of the funding available.
Include a statement on public meeting notices for significant updates to MPO products to encourage people to contact GBNRTC prior to meetings, and GBNRTC will make every reasonable effort to accommodate particular needs
TIP Public Participation
As a non-attainment area Transportation Management Areas (TMAs), the GBNRTC provides at least one formal public meeting (23 CFR 450.326(b)) during the TIP development process.
The GBNRTC has made the TIP widely available for public review in electronically accessible formats using means such as the World Wide Web (www.gbnrtc.org), electronic mail and other social networking tools.
As more and more people obtain and share information online, social media is quickly becoming an important communication tool and an integral part of the GBNRTC’s public involvement strategy. Social media channels allow the GBNRTC to reach a broader audience and provide a forum for people to share and discuss relevant and timely information on transportation planning issues. Information received by social media users in the form of comments, @replies, or direct messages or any other method allowed by third-party social media sites will be treated as feedback and discussion and do not constitute official public comment to the GBNRTC.
As part of the TIP development, the GBNRTC employs visualization techniques prior to the adoption of their metropolitan transportation plan and TIP (23 CFR 450.316). The GBNRTC’s website (www.gbnrtc.org) visibly portrays the MPO as an independent entity or organization rather than a subunit of the host agency (NFTA).
The GBNRTC continues to ensure consistency with the most recent law, consultation procedures, plans, and guidelines to include reasonable opportunities to consult with all interested parties and for interested parties to comment on the TIP - with stakeholders and local/State agencies responsible for land use management, natural resources, environmental protection, conservation, and historic preservation in developing metropolitan transportation (long-range) plans. This activity may also occur during individual GBNRTC member/agency planning activities in the GBNRTC plan development.
The GBNRTC provides direct notice and appropriately involves the Indian/Native Nations government(s) in the development of the TIP. Note that Tribal Nations receive apportioned funding directly from FHWA Federal Lands to develop a Tribal Transportation Program. The Tribal Transportation Program Office sends FHWA-NY a list of tribal nations projects within state boundaries that NYSDOT can elect to place on the STIP. Note the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) may likely be completed off- STIP cycle and will be added to the STIP when these programs are made available. Tribal Transit Programs will be added to the STIP through the NYSDOT Public Transportation Bureau.
NYSDOT is responsible for consulting with public officials and other local stakeholders in rural areas on transportation planning and programming issues that may arise in their respective communities. For detailed instructions on reaching out to the locals on STIP related activities in your Region, refer to the “NYSDOT Procedures for Consultation with Public Officials in Rural Areas” which was updated in 2021. The link is:
https://www.dot.ny.gov/programs/smart-planning/repository/RuralConsult2021final.pdf
Public Notice and Meeting
The GBNRTC held two public meetings on the 2023-2027 Draft TIP August 22, 2022 on the first floor of the GBNRTC’s building at 438 Main Street in Buffalo.
The GBNRTC staff presented the following information:
GBNRTC role and organization
Metropolitan planning process
Historical TIP performance
Federal funding programs and grant opportunities
Fiscal constraint
Air quality conformity
Social justice and equity
Project development
TIP linkage to MTP
Project summaries by work type
Program highlights by member agency
An opportunity for questions and answers was provided after the 40-minute presentation.
The first meeting took place live at 10:00 am and offered a streaming option via Facebook Live.
3 members of the public attended the event Live
56 members of the public viewed the video live on Facebook. The presentation received 2 likes and 14 comments.
The second meeting was held at 5:30 pm and was virtual only.
1 member of the public viewed via Zoom
19 members of the public viewed the video live on Facebook. The presentation received 2 likes and 1 share.
Overall 79 members of the public attended the public meeting either live or virtually. The video of the two meeting remains on the GBNRTC Facebook page and can be viewed at any time. This was a dramatic increase over the previous TIP public outreach effort in 2020.
Interagency Consultation
Current federal regulations require the GBNRTC to consult with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies responsible for land use management, natural resources, environmental protection, conservation, and historic preservation to provide these agencies with information regarding the TIP and request their participation in the agency consultation process. The agencies that were contacted include:
Environmental Protection Agency
National Park Service
US Fish and Wildlife Service
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
US Department of Agriculture/Natural Resource Conservation Service
NYS Department of Agriculture
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
New York State Department of Health
Empire State Development
Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper
NYS Historic Preservation Office
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Buffalo Sewer Authority
University at Buffalo (UB) - Historic Preservation
Preservation Buffalo Niagara
Erie County Department of Environment and Planning
Niagara County Center for Economic Development
City of Buffalo Strategic Planning
Seneca Nation of Indians
Tonawanda Seneca Nation
Tuscarora Nation
An environmental assessment will continue to be conducted for each project by its lead agency as it advances to ascertain the true nature of any potential impact.