Draft MTC Public Participation Plan Slated for Final Approval February 25

MTC’s Planning Committee on February 13 agreed to forward a Final Draft Public Participation Plan (PPP) to the full Commission with a recommendation for approval. The Planning Committee met jointly with ABAG’s Administrative Committee, which also endorsed the document. The Final Draft PPP includes a framework — included as Appendix A — for public outreach and involvement for the update to Plan Bay Area, slated to kick off in May with a series of public open houses. The Plan Bay Area update will build off of the current plan, which was approved by ABAG and MTC in 2013. MTC is slated to take final action on the Draft PPP at its February 25 meeting.

MTC received nearly 100 comments from individuals and organizations during a 66-day public comment period on the Draft PPP. Comments may be viewed on MTC’s web site. A staff memo summarizing comments with responses is also online.

Several themes emerged from the public comments, including the need to show the public more specifically how their comments will be considered by decision-makers, the need for improved access to public workshops, the importance of involving low-income communities and communities of color in public engagement activities, the need to localize communications and evaluate the effectiveness of public engagement throughout the process. The Final Draft PPP includes revisions that were made in response to some of the comments and suggestions.

Staff will present a recommended strategy for the first round of public open houses scheduled for spring 2015 to a joint meeting of MTC’s Planning Committee and ABAG’s Administrative Committee on March 13. Three phases of public engagement activities are being planned for the update to Plan Bay Area over the multi-year planning process. Sign up to keep informed on Plan Bay Area.