[0:14] Hello. Uh, thanks for viewing this [0:16] presentation about the Common Cent [0:18] Street programming plan update. My name [0:20] is Ruben Collins. I'm an engineer in the [0:23] Department of Public Works with the city [0:24] of St. Paul. And I'm excited to tell you [0:26] about this um uh this investment uh over [0:30] the next 20 years in streets and bridges [0:32] across the city of St. Paul. [0:35] Um common sense is the name of the uh [0:39] program uh tied to the special purpose [0:41] sales tax that was enacted by the voters [0:44] of St. Paul in the fall of 2023. [0:47] Um it's a 1% sales tax that we estimate [0:50] will generate about 3/4 of a billion [0:52] dollars over the next 20 years. And [0:55] those funds are dedicated to uh [0:57] investment in 24 corridors throughout [0:59] the city um to improve streets and [1:04] bridges. Um and this is a pretty sizable [1:08] um uh a very sizable investment in [1:10] streets and bridges. This is a major [1:12] increase in the amount of funding that [1:14] public works has available uh to improve [1:16] streets on an annual basis. [1:20] Um since the fall of 2023 when uh St. [1:23] Paul voters approved the referendum. [1:26] Um we've been busy at work first [1:29] delivering a couple of projects um with [1:32] those funds and I can mention that uh [1:34] again in a couple slides here. Um but [1:36] we've been doing work to review cost [1:38] estimates for the various projects to to [1:40] uh forecast the amount of revenue we'll [1:42] receive from the sales tax to de develop [1:45] a technical scoring of all of the [1:47] projects will be delivered and just [1:49] generally create a plan for how we were [1:51] how and where we are going to invest [1:53] those funds over the next 20 years [1:54] throughout the city. Um we've released a [1:57] draft document of of the draft [1:59] programming plan that's available on the [2:01] city's website. And this slideshow is a [2:03] summary of um the information contained [2:06] in that draft document. [2:10] Uh before the sales tax was approved by [2:13] voters, um we presented a map to the uh [2:16] to voters of St. Paul. Uh and I'll show [2:19] that share that map in a a moment. Um, [2:23] we identified the 24 corridors where [2:25] these funds would be spent and the the [2:27] information on screen now identifies uh [2:30] the criteria that were used to help [2:32] identify those corridors. The the state [2:35] statutes that allow the city of St. Paul [2:36] to enact a sales tax. Uh include some [2:40] information about uh the importance of [2:41] those investments being regional in [2:43] nature. And for that reason, you will [2:45] see that these common sense core uh [2:47] common sense funds are generally not [2:49] being spent on residential neighborhood [2:52] streets, but rather uh streets that um [2:55] serve more regional needs throughout the [2:57] city of St. Paul. So the criteria is on [2:59] the left side of the screen. The [3:01] selection principles that we use to [3:03] select the the corridors are on the [3:05] right side of the screen and they're all [3:07] of the um uh principles that we uh that [3:11] we use on a lot of projects. For [3:13] example, safety. Top of the list safety [3:14] is always uh one of the most important [3:17] uh thing that things that we take into [3:18] consideration uh in all of our projects. [3:24] This is the map that was presented to [3:26] St. Paul voters um prior to the uh prior [3:29] to the vote. Um and so you can see uh [3:33] the kind of distribution of these [3:34] streets throughout the city and there's [3:36] a list of the uh of the corridors here. [3:40] This is where we will expect to see um [3:43] uh the common sense funds invested over [3:46] the next 20 years. I want to note that [3:49] uh there's a number uh tied to each one [3:51] of these quarters. I want to note that [3:52] that is just an identifying number that [3:54] is not intended to signify any sort of [3:57] priority or sequencing of projects that [4:00] we would deliver. [4:02] Um [4:05] uh the first thing that we had to do is [4:07] um identify specific capital projects uh [4:11] that could that could occur on these [4:13] corridors. And some of these corridors [4:15] are fairly long. Um, and as an example, [4:18] I'll choose Arlington Avenue, which is [4:20] uh at the top of the screen here. Um, [4:23] corridor number five there. The that [4:26] that uh corridor stretches from Victoria [4:28] Street on the west to Payne Avenue on [4:30] the east. And that's about three miles [4:32] long. And that's longer than public [4:34] works uh can deliver in a single [4:36] construction season. Um so generally uh [4:41] we first had to ask ourselves you know [4:42] how how quickly do we think we could [4:45] deliver these projects. Generally we [4:47] think we can deliver projects anywhere [4:50] from a half mile to one mile in length [4:53] in a uh in an individual construction [4:55] season. And we generally believe that we [4:57] have staff capacity to deliver about [5:00] three of those in any calendar year. Um [5:03] that's in addition to um all of the [5:06] other work that public works does that [5:08] is funded uh by other funding sources [5:10] that are not common sense funding. [5:16] So we broke up all of these corridors [5:20] into uh individual projects. Again to [5:22] stick with the example of Arlington, you [5:24] can see that Arlington corridor 5 is uh [5:27] was broken up into project 5A, 5B, and [5:30] 5C. each about one mile in length. We [5:33] would expect to deliver that as an [5:35] example uh in three separate projects [5:37] over three different construction [5:39] seasons. [5:44] We also had a lot of conversations with [5:47] uh agency partners. We are not the only [5:49] entity that is doing construction work [5:51] within St. Paul rights ofway throughout [5:53] the city. Uh Mandotransit, Ramsey [5:56] County, St. Paul Regional Water Services [5:59] and uh private utility companies like [6:01] Excel Energy. Um they are also [6:03] delivering projects throughout the city [6:06] and it is one of our goals, one of our [6:08] top priorities to make sure that our [6:10] work is coordinated with their work. Uh [6:12] we need to be cognizant of where and [6:14] when our projects are happening in [6:16] relation to their projects. We've all [6:18] encountered situations where one agency [6:21] has a project on one street and if a [6:24] different agency has a project at the [6:26] same time uh one block over uh that can [6:29] be really impactful for the community [6:31] and it can um be really frustrating. So [6:34] we want to make sure we're avoiding [6:35] that. We want to make sure we are [6:36] coordinated with the other agencies and [6:38] their projects. So we had a lot of [6:40] conversations and collaboration with [6:43] them in creation of this plan. [6:48] Next, we asked ourselves what is the [6:49] lowest hanging fruit for delivery uh of [6:52] these projects. Um the reality is that [6:54] we were not starting from scratch on all [6:56] of these projects. There were several [6:59] projects that were already uh shown on [7:01] our five-year capital plan that is [7:03] approved by city council. They were [7:05] already on that five-year plan prior to [7:08] uh voters of St. Paul approving the [7:09] common sense program. Um those projects [7:12] would continue. um uh we would use [7:15] common sense to to uh finance those [7:17] projects moving forward. Um [7:25] we also created a technical scoring for [7:27] each of the projects within the project [7:29] area within the within each of the [7:31] corridors. Um the graphic on screen is [7:35] um showing some of the uh criteria that [7:38] we use to develop that technical score. [7:40] For example, 30% of the project [7:43] technical score, 35% was based on [7:45] pavement condition and 15% of the [7:48] technical score is based on roadway [7:50] safety needs in that corridor. And a [7:53] full uh detailing of the criteria that [7:55] was used to develop the technical score [7:58] is [clears throat] included in the um [7:59] appendix of the plan on the city [8:01] website. Um but we went through each one [8:04] of the projects and developed this [8:06] technical score and it was a it provided [8:08] a starting point for helping us to [8:09] understand the relative priorities of [8:13] the different uh projects and to create [8:15] a starting point of um what projects we [8:18] might uh we might uh undertake first. [8:24] This is a listing of all of the [8:27] different projects with the project [8:28] limits uh that will be delivered by the [8:30] common sense program over the next 20 [8:32] years along with the technical score [8:35] that each of these projects received. [8:38] Um [8:42] the [8:44] let's see [8:46] uh the technical score uh the technical [8:50] score is the starting point as I [8:51] mentioned for understanding the um the [8:54] sequencing of the different projects to [8:56] be delivered. Uh but there are a variety [8:58] of reasons some of which I've touched on [8:59] already as to why some of these projects [9:01] might be delivered uh perhaps not [9:04] exactly in the order uh as dictated by [9:07] the by the technical score. A variety of [9:09] reasons why we'd sort of go um why we [9:12] would advance or delay a particular [9:14] project um uh from the from the score. [9:19] Um the first that I already mentioned is [9:22] existing capital improvement projects. [9:23] Again, there were already several of the [9:26] common sense projects that were already [9:27] shown on our five-year plan. Um, so [9:30] those projects would move forward. [9:31] Number two, the previous planning [9:33] efforts, we were not starting from [9:34] scratch on all of these projects. There [9:36] are several corridors where we had [9:38] already done a lot of planning work or [9:40] design work or community engagement work [9:42] on those corridors to deliver those [9:44] projects prior to Common Sense being [9:46] approved by St. Paul voters. Um [9:50] so those projects um [9:54] those projects are uh identified to be [9:57] prioritized uh to keep the momentum [9:59] moving forward on those projects since [10:01] we had already put a lot of effort into [10:03] um into starting them. Uh the third [10:06] agency coordination I've touched on [10:08] already. Important to understand where [10:09] our partners are doing work. [10:12] Um and number four on this screen [10:14] corridor consistency. Uh this is um you [10:17] know the principle that uh again back to [10:19] use Arlington as an example. Um if we're [10:23] delivering three projects over uh over [10:26] three construction seasons, we asked [10:28] ourselves should those be um should we [10:31] do it three years in a row or is there a [10:33] reason to space those out um and put a [10:36] little bit more time between each of [10:37] those? And each corridor is a little bit [10:39] different. Um but uh trying to in [10:42] general we tried to keep corridors [10:45] together uh where we could. Uh so if we [10:48] start uh if a project's going to be [10:49] delivered over several construction [10:51] seasons um tried to generally keep those [10:54] to you know close together in sequence. [10:58] In the draft common sense uh programming [11:01] plan uh all of the projects are pre [11:03] presented in stages and each of the [11:05] projects is assigned to a stage and [11:07] stage is just uh a way of saying a [11:09] 5-year period of time in which that [11:12] project will be delivered. Um we're [11:14] projecting these projects out 20 years [11:16] into the future and that's a really long [11:18] planning horizon. Generally we plan five [11:20] years out into the future. So 20 years [11:22] is is quite a bit longer than we usually [11:24] do. [11:26] And for that reason, it's important to [11:27] give ourselves uh a little bit of [11:29] flexibility. There's a lot of things [11:31] that we can't predict that will happen [11:32] in the city of St. Paul over the next 20 [11:34] years. Um and so what we've done is [11:37] assigned each project to one of these [11:38] four stages. Um and so a given project, [11:41] again, if it's assigned to stage three, [11:44] um you know, we would we would look to [11:46] that project being delivered sometime [11:48] between 2035 and 2039. [11:51] uh with the exact year being uh [11:53] identified closer to implementation. [11:58] Stage one of the project is the first [12:00] five years of the project 2024 to 2029. [12:04] Um at this at this point uh we have [12:07] already delivered two of these projects [12:09] on Grand and Jackson Street and uh the [12:12] remainder of these projects um [12:16] uh will be delivered um between now and [12:19] 2029. [12:21] Uh I won't go into detail about each of [12:24] these projects. Um but uh generally most [12:28] of the projects identified in stage one [12:30] are being prioritized in stage one for [12:33] reasons other than their technical [12:35] score. Um most of the projects [12:38] identified in in stage one are examples [12:41] of where there is another agency doing [12:43] work that we want to coordinate with or [12:46] um projects where we've already done uh [12:50] master planning work and we want to uh [12:54] uh keep that momentum moving forward. An [12:55] example of that maybe is Pelum Pelum [12:58] Boulevard. Um that is part of the St. [13:01] Paul Grand Round and the St. Paul City [13:03] Council adopted a uh a master plan for [13:05] the St. Paul Grand Round um back in 2017 [13:08] and we've slowly um been making progress [13:12] on implementing projects uh along the [13:15] Grand Round um and so this is an example [13:18] Pelum is an example of a corridor where [13:19] we already have a master plan in place [13:21] that tells us what the corridor should [13:23] look like what the design should look [13:25] like what the what the design parameters [13:27] should be and there's been a lot of [13:28] community engagement already um around [13:31] the Pelum corridor prior to common sense [13:34] funds being adopted So it makes sense [13:36] for as an example of of a project to [13:38] prioritize in the stage one of the [13:40] program. [13:42] Um and I just mentioned Palum as one [13:45] example. Um this is our five-year [13:47] capital plan. I realize the text here is [13:49] is uh small enough you won't be able to [13:51] see it, but this document is on our on [13:53] the city's website. This is approved [13:55] annually by the St. Paul City Council. [13:58] And um uh towards the kind of the middle [14:01] of the screen you can see the listing of [14:03] the uh the common s uh projects. And um [14:09] so this is the this is the mechanism by [14:11] which the city can communicate to um uh [14:15] specific program construction years um [14:18] for the uh for the next five years. Um [14:22] so uh projects in stage one um you know [14:26] we do have specific construction years [14:28] called out on this five-year capital [14:30] plan. And each year as this plan is [14:32] updated um [14:35] uh you know we add the the next uh year [14:38] of projects onto the end of this uh [14:40] five-year plan. And so, um, generally in [14:43] this programming plan, uh, we're [14:46] assigning projects to, uh, a five-year [14:48] window when that project may happen, but [14:51] every project should be identified with [14:53] a specific construction year five years [14:55] in advance that it, uh, of its [14:57] implementation. [15:00] Stage two, uh, this is a map of the [15:02] stage two projects. I won't go through [15:04] uh, all of these individually, um, but [15:07] these are the projects in in stage two. [15:10] stage three uh projects and then stage [15:14] four projects. There's a lot fewer [15:17] projects in stage four than there are in [15:19] the previous three stages. And that's [15:22] primarily just a reflection that we are [15:24] doing our best to try and work through [15:25] the common sense projects as quickly as [15:27] we can, as quickly as our our staff [15:29] capacity allows and as quickly as the um [15:33] you know the revenue the the sales tax [15:35] revenue comes into the city. [15:38] And here is a a map that has the the [15:41] full program if you want to see the the [15:43] full uh 20-year distribution of projects [15:47] throughout the city. [15:50] Uh in terms of next steps, um the uh [15:54] this this draft um programming plan is [15:57] on the city's website. We invite you to [15:59] uh read the full plan and dive into the [16:01] details of this plan and um uh send fe [16:06] feedback back to the city. Um, we are [16:09] going to be making our uh our best [16:11] effort to get out to all of the district [16:12] councils uh across the city of St. Paul. [16:16] Um, if there's any other organization or [16:18] group that is particularly interested in [16:20] this topic and would like to have city [16:22] staff um attend a meeting of your [16:24] organization or otherwise share [16:26] information, please reach out. We're [16:27] happy to do that. Um, [16:31] and um, [16:34] that's the end of the information that [16:35] we have for you today. If there are any [16:37] questions on this information, again, my [16:39] name is Ruben Collins. Um, my uh contact [16:42] information is on the city uh common [16:44] sense website and feel free to reach out [16:47] to me with uh any questions or comments [16:49] or feedback on the programming plan. [16:51] Thank you.