Title
Authorizing City staff to apply for and accept RAISE funding to conduct a planning effort entitled "the Rondo Neighborhood Streets Improvements Study".
Body
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Transportation is currently accepting applications from local agencies to conduct planning studies through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program; and
WHEREAS, Planning and Economic Development and Public Works staff, as well as local non-profits, are leading several parallel efforts aimed at systematic racism and climate resilience within the Rondo neighborhood. With the assistance of a RAISE planning grant, the City can initiate a study of neighborhood level transportation needs and quickly mobilize highly supportive local agencies and resources to link all these efforts and ensure public investments work together to provide a more equitable future; and
WHEREAS, the study purpose is to develop a comprehensive and community led vision for transportation and other public right-of-way improvements within the Rondo Neighborhood, and adjacent areas and identified improvements will result in greater connectivity between BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities, areas of persistent poverty, regional transit routes, and large revitalization efforts to correct past racially driven transportation decisions; and
WHEREAS, the study will help bridge transportation gaps between the BIPOC communities to benefit and the Reconnect Rondo Land Bridge, Rethinking I-94 EIS process, and the Sears site mixed-use transit-oriented redevelopment; and
WHEREAS, the urgent need today is to develop a plan that will tie all these efforts together and understand how intersecting transportation improvements are coordinated with development of significant residential, recreational, commercial, and job center destinations associated with the land bridge and the Sears site redevelopment. The Rondo Neighborhood transportation improvements addressing significant barriers in these BIPOC communities should occur with other regional investments, City capital investments, and County capital investments; and
WHEREAS, the city has a unique but time sensitive responsibility to build purposeful connections that will ensure we "get it right" while righting past wrongs and capitalizing on planned investments of local, state, and federal dollars. This also opens the door for private development investment that will provide increased opportunity to root out decades of systematic racism. In addition, this study will help the city drive forward their Climate Action & Resilience Plan goals including implementation of green infrastructure to create healthier urban environments and begin to address the urban heat island effect; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the City represents that this project meets the requirements of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) transportation grant thereby allowing the project to receive RAISE planning grant funding; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the proposed study is in "An Area of Persistent Poverty" as defined for the RAISE grant program by the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act and the City is requesting an award that funds one hundred percent of the estimated planning grant cost; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City agrees to comply with all applicable laws and regulations as stated in the notice of funding and a future grant agreement; and, be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City has the necessary capabilities to adequately develop and manage this transportation improvement planning effort; and be it
FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council authorizes staff to apply for and accept funding from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) transportation grant program for the Rondo Neighborhood Streets Improvements Study.