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Baltimore Regional Partnership 
1000 Friends of Maryland * Baltimore Urban League * Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Citizens’ Planning and Housing Association * Environmental Defense

May 11, 2000

Mr. J. Craig Forrest, Chair                                                                                     The Honorable C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Chair
Transportation Steering Committee                                                                     Baltimore Metropolitan Council
601 North Howard Street                                                                                       601 North Howard Street
Baltimore, MD, 21201                                                                                             Baltimore, MD, 21201

Dear Mr. Forrest and Mr. Ruppersberger:

We appreciate your invitation for Michael Replogle to address the TSC on May 23, 2000, regarding Commuter Choice. In recent meetings and communications with you and other Transportation Steering Committee (TSC) and Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) members, Environmental Defense and the Baltimore Regional Partnership have offered suggestions for action to make Commuter Choice incentives a widely available workplace benefit throughout the Baltimore region.

As our earlier comments detail, we believe the TSC and its member jurisdictions should make commitments in the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), and State Implementation Plan (SIP) to assure widespread availability and use of Commuter Choice benefits. Such actions constitute an important reasonably available Transportation Control Measure that could cut traffic growth and air pollution and enhance transportation equity.

From each jurisdiction that is a member of the TSC we request a commitment in writing by June 30, 2000 to:

1. Adopt by October 1, 2000, a framework for jurisdiction-level and regionally-coordinated action programs to support a goal of making Commuter Choice incentives by employers a standard workplace benefit in the region by 2003 and to encourage their use by employees. These action plans should include commitments to promote Commuter Choice options to employers, commuters, and developers, with marketing, technical, and administrative assistance, adoption of incentives for Commuter Choice in the zoning and development approval process, new incentives for employers to adopt such benefits, annual evaluation of progress against performance objectives as part of an annual action plan update, and regional coordination of these efforts, with appropriate consultation and engagement of all affected stakeholders.
   
   
2. Adopt by October 1, 2000, a program that enables the local, state, or municipal employees of each jurisdiction to purchase transit and van benefits using pre-tax dollars, as provided by US tax code.
   
   
3. Provide by January 1, 2001, non-taxable transit and qualified vanpool benefits up to the limit established in the US tax code, for all local, state, or municipal employees of each jurisdiction.
   
   
4. Provide by January 1, 2001, the option of receiving added taxable cash income in lieu of parking for all local, state, or municipal employees of each jurisdiction who receive free parking at their workplace, as permitted by the US tax code and as encouraged for private employers through Maryland tax credits.
   
   
5. Adopt by January 1, 2001, a requirement that recipients of contracts from the jurisdiction make available to their employees any Commuter Choice incentives that are eligible for Maryland state tax credits.
   
   
6. Revise by July 1, 2001, local zoning, parking and other relevant codes and requirements related to development approvals so that when applying minimum parking or traffic mitigation obligations, appropriate credit is offered for long-term enforceable commitments by developers, property owners, and tenants for employer paid transit and cash-in-lieu-of-parking incentives.

We request that the TSC itself adopt a resolution by June 30, 2000, which should:

1. Support the above commitments by member jurisdictions.
   
   
2. Endorse the inclusion of this action agenda as part of a Transportation Control Measure (TCM) to be submitted as part of the next revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for Attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for the Baltimore region.
   
   
3. Instruct the staff of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council to establish through a TIP and RTP Amendment and through the upcoming TIP and RTP update additional funding commitments to support timely and aggressive implementation of this action agenda as a TCM SIP control strategy.
   

Thank you for your consideration of these recommendations.

Sincerely,

Cc: Transportation Steering Committee designated members
       Baltimore Metropolitan Council members

Baltimore Regional Partnership · 512 Orchard Street  · Baltimore, MD 21201-1947
 phone: (410) 523-8150  x249 · fax: (410) 523-4022