SMART is Moving Forward!
June 5, 2009


The first train ride is still a few years away, but Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit has been moving forward and making progress since North Bay voters gave the project a solid 70-percent "thumbs up" on election day last November.
The next order of business is choosing the type of rail cars that will carry passengers between Cloverdale and Larkspur, a key decision that will affect many other aspects of the project. Some members of the SMART Board of Directors made day trips to Portland and San Diego in February, taking rides on new commuter rail projects to get a feel for the type of trains available for SMART. Portland's Westside Express Service uses an FRA-compliant Colorado Railcar and North San Diego County's Sprinter is a European-built Siemens Desiro. While either type of train could work for SMART, both offer risks as well as rewards, and the Board is researching the options.
A Citizens Oversight Committee recently completed its draft of a Strategic Plan, which is the document that will guide how SMART uses revenues that include the quarter-cent sales tax increase approved by voters last fall. The plan reflects the difficult economic climate, but also shows how SMART can weather this financial storm while keeping the project moving forward as planned (see separate article).
The big job for SMART in the next couple of years is designing and engineering all aspects of the project, from vehicles and track to stations and bridges. To keep that work - and much more - moving forward, SMART has expanded its staff. Newcomers include Chief Financial Officer Erin McGrath, who formerly did Economic and Work-force Development for the City of San Francisco; Capital Projects Director John Lackey, who comes to us from David Evans & Associates in Portland; and Senior Rail Engineer Bill Gamlen, former Project Delivery Manager for the Transportation Authority of Marin. They'll be joined soon by an administrative assistant, expected to be on board by mid-June.
SMART still is a relatively small agency, with eight full-time employees working with a 12-member Board of Directors comprised of elected officials from both counties and the cities of Cloverdale, Windsor, Rohnert Park, Novato, San Rafael and San Anselmo, along with two members of the Golden Gate Bridge District Board of Directors.

Strategic Plan Points the Way for Completion of Project

A Citizens Oversight Committee has delivered its draft 2009 Strategic Plan for implementing the 70-mile SMART train and pathway project, a task that has been complicated by the difficult economic climate.
The Plan outlines a financial strategy for SMART as the project enters its final design and engineering phase over the next two years. It needs to be adopted by the Board of Directors by the end of June, and will be updated as necessary over the life of the 20-year project.
Measure Q, the quarter-cent sales tax increase approved last fall, will provide the bulk of the money needed to build and operate SMART. The ballot measure established the requirement for preparation of a Strategic Plan with the help of a Citizens Oversight Committee. The Board in March appointed the committee comprised of, from Sonoma County: Michael Allen, Steve Birdlebough, Dennis Harter and Steve Rabinowitsh; and from Marin County: Russ Colombo, David Grubb and Patricia Kendall.
At the committee's first meeting in early April, SMART's financial advisers told the group that the project has not been spared the effects of the financial upheaval that has roiled the global economy over the past year. Just like other government agencies that rely on sales tax receipts for funding, and on bond sales to finance capital projects, SMART is feeling the impact of the economic downturn.
A one-two punch of sagging sales tax receipts and constricted bond markets has reduced SMART's estimated bonding capacity by approximately $100 million.
Meanwhile, new developments and regulations in the railroad industry - combined with new cost estimates and add-ons to the project - have increased the estimated costs by about 9 percent.
The draft Strategic Plan acknowledges these changes, but notes that none of them should deter SMART from pursuing the project as approved by the voters last year. While bonding will be delayed at least a year, all other project activities should move forward at this time, the Plan states. That means complete design and engineering activities and development of a full fleet of rail vehicles will proceed. Those activi-ties do not require bonding and will be funded with tax revenues over the next two years.
At the same time, SMART Board members, staff and consultants will pursue other funding sources to make up the gap caused by the struggling economy and difficult bond markets. SMART is seeking federal stimulus funds and money from other federal transportation sources, and also will pursue allocations and grants specifically geared toward the bicycle-pedestrian pathway, creation of alternative transportation choices, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other sources. For example, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, has requested an extra $50 million for SMART in the upcoming surface transportation authorization bill.
"We will solve this problem," said Lillian Hames, SMART's general manager. "It is early enough that we have time to seek out other money, bore into costs and think creatively about ways to value-engineer the project."
Just like that of every other public agency, SMART's financial balance sheet has been buffeted by the economic downturn of the past year. Fortunately, SMART's largest construction expenditures are still two years in the future. That provides a period in which the economy and the bond markets have a chance to recover, and in which SMART has a chance to pursue other funding.
Meanwhile, design and engineering work continues as scheduled.



Information/Comment Lines:

Marin County - 415.419.3510
Sonoma County - 707.583.2323

Email: info@sonomamarintrain.org

U.S. MAIL:

SMART District Office
750 Lindaro Street, Suite 200
San Rafael, CA 94901