Regional Coordination   at work
  Puget Sound Regional Council Executive Board                 psrc.org
 
              April 28, 2005

The Executive Board adopted revised project tracking policies for PSRC's federal funds.

The revised policies establish time periods for obligating funds as well as specific procedures for extending them. The revisions will trigger action once projects surpass their obligation date by nine months. If the project will not be able to move forward, the revisions include policies for returning the funds for use in implementing projects from the contingency list.

For more information, contact Karen Richter at (206) 464-6343 or krichter@psrc.org.

The Executive Board discussed the work of the Prosperity Partnership and its efforts to release a draft Regional Economic Strategy in May.

Successful coalition building has led to a communications network of 3,500+ individuals and over 120 organizations signed up as partners to develop and implement the regional economic strategy. Twenty-seven action teams are working on initiatives specific to the five pilot clusters, as well as six foundation initiatives to address economy wide obstacles to economic growth. The five pilot clusters are life sciences, information technology, logistics and international trade, aerospace, and clean technology. Clusters are geographically concentrated sets of competing and complementary industries, operating in similar markets, and linked by their buyer-supplier relationships and their shared reliance on inputs from local universities, colleges, and sources of technology. Clusters are export-oriented and bring wealth back to the region.

For more information, contact Bill McSherry at 206-587-5663 or bmcsherry@psrc.org.

In other business, the Executive Board:

  • Certified the 2004 Comprehensive Plan Updates for the City of Roy and the Town of Steilacoom.
  • Adopted a routine amendment to the Transportation Improvement Program, which enables ten transportation projects to move forward, including projects in Bremerton, Fife, and Puyallup, as well as Pierce Transit and Washington State Department of Transportation projects.
  • Authorized the change in status for three Destination 2030 projects from candidate to approved. The projects are the Issaquah Transit Center and Park and Ride, the Ship Canal Trail Extension from 6th Ave. W. to W. Emerson Place in Seattle, and the Mountlake Terrace Park and Ride.
  • Refined Destination 2030 to include the Downtown Bremerton Pedestrian and Transit Center Access Improvements as a candidate project.
  • Approved a contract for professional services to assist in the development of a non-project Environmental Impact Statement for the VISION 2020+20 update.