[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 67 (Friday, April 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24086-24087]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07218]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Transit Administration

[FTA-2021-0010]


Notice of Availability of Proposed Policy Guidance for the 
Capital Investment Grants Program

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed policy guidance for the 
Capital Investment Grants program.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) invites public 
comment on revisions to the agency's policy guidance for the Capital 
Investment Grants (CIG) program. These revisions are intended to amend 
FTA's CIG Policy Guidance last published in January 2023 and are a 
comprehensive update of the CIG Policy Guidance for notice and comment, 
incorporating feedback FTA received in response to its Request for 
Information published in the Federal Register in July 2021. The 
proposed guidance has been placed in the docket and posted on the FTA 
website. This policy guidance continues to complement FTA's regulations 
that govern the CIG program. FTA is also posing questions concerning 
the CIG New Starts and Small Starts Land Use and Economic Development 
Project Justification Criteria.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 4, 2024. Late-filed 
comments will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to DOT docket number FTA-2021-0010 
by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and 
follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    U.S. Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 
New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.
    Fax: 202-493-2251.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name (Federal Transit 
Administration) and docket number (FTA-2021-0010) for this notice at 
the beginning of your comments. You must submit two copies of your 
comments if you submit them by mail. If you wish to receive 
confirmation FTA received your comments, you must include a self-
addressed, stamped postcard. Due to security procedures in effect since 
October 2001, mail received through the U.S. Postal Service may be 
subject to delays. Parties submitting comments may wish to consider 
using an express mail firm to ensure prompt filing of any submissions 
not filed electronically or by hand.
    All comments received will be posted, without charge and including 
any personal information provided, to https://www.regulations.gov, 
where they will be available to internet users. You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement published in the Federal Register on 
April 11, 2000, at 65 FR 19477. For access to the docket and to

[[Page 24087]]

read background documents and comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov at any time or to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Docket Management Facility, 
West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590 between 
9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Day, FTA Office of Planning 
and Environment, telephone (202) 366-5159 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 5309(g)(5), FTA is 
required to publish policy guidance on the CIG program each time the 
agency makes significant changes. Also, FTA is required to invite 
public comment on the guidance, and to publish its response to 
comments. In brief, the policy guidance that FTA periodically issues 
for the discretionary Capital Investment Grants (``CIG'') program 
complements the FTA regulations that govern the CIG program, codified 
at 49 CFR part 611. The regulations set forth the process that grant 
applicants must follow to be considered for discretionary funding under 
the CIG program, and the procedures and criteria FTA uses to rate and 
evaluate the projects to determine their eligibility for that 
discretionary funding. The policy guidance provides a greater level of 
detail about the methods FTA uses and the sequential steps a sponsor 
must follow in developing a project.
    FTA is seeking comment on proposed changes to FTA's CIG Policy 
Guidance last issued in January 2023. (https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/capital-investments/final-capital-investment-grant-program-interim-policy). The proposals cover multiple topics. The 
proposals being made today are available on the agency's public website 
at https://www.transit.dot.gov/CIG, and in the docket at https://www.regulations.gov.
    FTA is also posing questions concerning the CIG New Starts and 
Small Starts Land Use and Economic Development Project Justification 
Criteria:
    1. FTA currently evaluates Land Use for New Starts and Small Starts 
projects based primarily on station area population densities, total 
employment served by the project, and the percentage of ``legally 
binding affordability restricted'' housing within a \1/2\ mile of 
station areas as compared to the counties in which the corridor is 
located. FTA is proposing to evaluate Land Use for New Starts and Small 
Starts projects based on station area population densities, total 
employment served by the project, the percentage of ``legally binding 
affordability restricted'' housing within a \1/2\ mile of station 
areas, and two new quantitative measures--community risk and access to 
essential services. Should FTA also add a measure of walkability to the 
New Starts and Small Starts Land Use Criteria? If so, please identify 
measures/data sources that would be readily available nationwide 
without requiring an undue burden on project sponsors to gather and FTA 
to verify the information. For example, should FTA add a measure using 
EPA's National Walkability Index (https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/national-walkability-index-user-guide-and-methodology)?
    2. For New Starts and Small Starts projects, should FTA use the US 
DOT Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer (https://www.transportation.gov/priorities/equity/justice40/etc-explorer), an 
interactive web application that uses census tracts and data to explore 
the cumulative burden communities experience as a result of 
underinvestment in transportation, as a measure for Land Use? If so, 
should this be in addition to the five measures FTA is proposing in the 
Policy Guidance, or as a substitute for the proposed community risk 
measure?
    3. For New Starts and Small Starts projects, FTA currently 
evaluates the following under Economic Development: (1) transit-
supportive plans and policies, which includes supportive zoning in 
station areas; (2) the performance and impacts of transit-supportive 
plans and policies; and (3) the tools to maintain or increase the share 
of affordable housing in station areas. FTA is proposing to make 
supportive zoning in station areas a standalone subfactor. FTA is 
proposing to move the other current measures of transit-supportive 
plans and policies (growth management (for New Starts only), transit 
supportive corridor policies, and tools to implement land use policies) 
to the subfactor performance and impacts of transit-supportive plans 
and policies. FTA is proposing that equal weight be given to three 
subfactors: supportive zoning in station areas, performance and impacts 
of transit-supportive plans and policies, and tools to maintain or 
increase the share of affordable housing in station areas, when 
developing the overall Economic Development rating. Should FTA do more 
to increase the relative weight of zoning as part of the Economic 
Development rating? For example, should FTA:
    a. Maintain its proposal to include three subfactors within 
Economic Development (supportive zoning in station areas, performance 
and impacts of transit-supportive plans and policies, and tools to 
maintain or increase the share of affordable housing in station areas) 
but assign the zoning subfactor more weight than the other two?
    b. Eliminate some of the non-zoning Economic Development subfactors 
or measures and if so, which ones?
    c. Make any other changes to the Economic Development subfactors or 
measures, and if so, which ones and how?
    After review and consideration of the comments provided on the 
proposals in this document and the answers to the questions, FTA will 
issue a final notice and incorporate these changes into the existing 
CIG Policy Guidance.

    Issued under the authority delegated in 49 CFR 1.91.
Veronica Vanterpool,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2024-07218 Filed 4-4-24; 8:45 am]
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