Okaloosa County BOCC — August 16, 2016 — Access EC Rider TDP - August Draft Report — reading text

Harbor, Holiday Isle, Town Center CRA, Gulf Resort, Bay Resort, and Crystal Beach.  Height, intensity, and density bonus provisions are provided in the HDR, CMU, SHMU, NHMU, TCMU, GRMU, BRMU, HIMU, and CBR Land Use Designations through a tiered system. Tier 3 requires a demonstration of public benefit such as by including “transit stops with dedicated area for safe and convenient off-street transit access and passenger shelters equipped with appropriate furnishings, architecturally design lighting and streetscape.” ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 98  Section 5 – Situation Appraisal Most Geography & Plan/Program/ Study Recent Responsible/ Overview Key Consideration for the Situation Appraisal Reviewed Update Partner Agencies  Land use and transportation planning coordinated to assure that affordable housing, higher- density housing, and housing for special groups are accessible to current and future public transportation programs or transit systems  Emphasizes pedestrian connectivity and walkability.  Has established locations and bus stop types for future bus stops along major corridors. City of Destin Land March Municipality Includes adopted and enforced  Adopted design standards pertaining to building mass, open space, setbacks, landscaping, Development Code LDC 2015 Destin development regulations that must be pedestrian amenities and other design initiatives that accommodate transit needs and that consistent with City’s Comprehensive promote walkability. Plan; contains specific and detailed  City has adopted a multimodal LOS standard for collector roads and for the Harbor provisions necessary or desirable to Boulevard/US Highway 98 East/Emerald Coast Parkway. implement the Comprehensive Plan policies. City of Niceville October Municipality Primary policy document concerning land  Currently contains no transit-specific policies, aside from coordinating with the appropriate Comprehensive Plan: 2010 Niceville use, transportation, and other planning agencies to plan for transit. No mass transit within city, nor is any planned during the 2035 matters for Niceville planning period.  Objective 8.A.1 is to develop a long-range plan that identifies multimodal and intermodal transportation facilities that will function as an integrated system and address the mobility needs of the area. ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 99  Section 5: Situation Appraisal The sources analyzed herein include sources that are federal, state, or local in nature that potentially can fund EC Rider’s fixed-route service. It should be noted that the specified sources of transit funding currently being used by EC Rider are not included, as they were discussed in the previous section and additional revenue under these existing sources is not anticipated. A review of funding sources was conducted to identify new and existing but currently not used or underused federal, state, and local funding sources for EC Rider fixed-route service. Some of the sources reviewed and summarized may not seem applicable to EC Rider services currently, but they represent potential future funding options within the next five-year planning period. Federal and State Funding Sources To identify additional non-local sources for funding EC Rider operations, several potential new federal and State funding sources were reviewed. These include relatively new sources of funding in the transportation industry, as well as a number of well-established and stable sources that currently are used by other transit providers in Florida. These funding sources include the following:  Federal Programs o Environmental and Energy o Transit Clean Fuels o Job Access and Reverse Commute (Section 5316, now part of Section 5311)  State Programs o Transit Corridor o Transit Service Development o Commuter Assistance Program Local and Regional Funding Sources A review of various local and regional funding sources also was conducted. A number of local and regional funding sources, some already used and others new to EC Rider funding, are identified and categorized. The funding categories and a majority of the sources summarized are based on the information from the 2009 Transportation Cooperative Research Program Report 129, “Local and Regional Funding Mechanisms for Public Transportation,” which categorizes the local and regional sources into a number of categories as follows. Traditional Tax- and Fee-based Sources Traditional sources of broadly based, tax- and fee-based and related revenue-raising mechanisms typically used to support transit operating costs include:  Regional Transit Authority  County/City General Revenue ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 100  Section 5: Situation Appraisal  Special Assessment Fees  Tourist Development Council  Student Fees  Fare Revenue  Advertising  Concessions Common Business, Activity, and Related Sources Less frequently-used tax- and revenue-raising mechanisms, such as private contributions and donations, to support transit reflect the recognition that funding public transit is a responsibility shared broadly and that meeting this responsibility requires contributions of funds from sources whose yield is significant and whose participation is acceptable in a political sense. Revenue Streams from Projects This includes sources that capture funding from various private business/development activities that benefit from proximity to specific transit facilities and services. Revenue streams from transit-oriented development (TOD) and/or join development projects are examples of this revenue source. Evaluation of Potential Funding Sources Table 5-2 presents a matrix to evaluate the potential future funding sources for EC Rider services based on the following criteria:  Revenue stability – evaluates whether the source can provide and maintain a stable revenue stream given the level of expenditures required and whether there are uncertain revenue fluctuations that can impact EC Rider’s ability to operate transit services.  Equity – the fairness of implementing a source that should be commensurate with the ability to pay or with the benefits received.  Political admissibility – the political palatability of a source, i.e., whether the source can garner sufficient popular or legislative support to be implemented.  Rider acceptability – evaluates whether the source is acceptable to the riders of EC Rider fixed- route services. These four criteria, applicable to local/regional, state, and federal levels, will be used to evaluate the previously identified funding sources. The criteria for reviewing the funding sources are based on the recommendations from TCRP Report 129, which identifies a number of suitable criteria for evaluating potential local and regional funding sources. The evaluation was intended to provide a general overview of how each source is rated under each criterion as well as provide initial guidance on the set of funding sources considered for EC Rider to further focus its attention and efforts. ACCESS EC RIDER | Okaloosa County’s 10-Year Transit Development Plan 101  Section 5: Situation Appraisal Table 5-2: Potential Future Funding Strategy Matrix Suggested Politically Rider Potential Source Type Stable Equitable Admissible Accepted Funding Strategy Environmental and Energy Funding Federal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes FTA Job Access Reverse Commute Federal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes FTA Transit Clean Fuels Federal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes FDOT Transit Corridor State Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes FDOT Transit Service Development State Maybe Yes Maybe Yes Maybe FDOT Commuter Assistance State Maybe Yes Maybe Yes Yes Independent/Regional Transit Regional Maybe Maybe Maybe Yes Maybe Authority County/City General Revenue Local Maybe Maybe Yes