To approve an Interlocal Cooperative Agreement between City of Plano and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for the Cotton Belt Regional Trail; and authorizing the City Manager to execute all necessary documents. Approved

The Cotton Belt Regional Trail will run parallel to Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s (DART’s) Silver Line, a 26-mile commuter rail line, and will extend from the DART Plano Shiloh Station to the future DFW Through Station at the DFW Airport. The alignment traverses seven cities: Grapevine, Coppell, Dallas, Carrollton, Addison, Richardson and Plano.

DART, NCTCOG and the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) have entered into an Interlocal Agreement with respect to funding and constructing the entire Cotton Belt Regional Trail. In May 2023, the RTC programmed $87,034,395 for construction of the full trail. Through this programmed funding, which leverages funding awards for the trail made by the RTC in 2019-2022, Plano will receive $23,935,329 in constructed Cotton Belt Regional Trail improvements. These improvements will be from the President George Bush Turnpike to Shiloh Road and include at-grade trail segments, signals, crossings, and bicycle/pedestrian bridges at Plano Parkway and Jupiter Road.

The NCTCOG will collect the local match provided for the awarded Cotton Belt Regional Trail from all participating agencies for transfer to DART who will construct the project.  The City of Plano is required to provide a local match of $1,700,718 to NCTCOG as a part of this Interlocal Cooperative Agreement.  Plano’s local match amount is available and was originally identified at Council on March 19, 2019 via City of Plano Resolution No. 2019-3-3(R).

If this Interlocal Cooperative Agreement is not approved, the Cotton Belt Regional Trail elements will not be constructed through the City of Plano.

Funding is available in the 2023-24 Park Improvements budget.  This item approves an interlocal cooperative agreement between the City of Plano (City) and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), requiring a local contribution from the City, in the amount of $1,700,718.  This amount, for Phase 2, shall be transferred to NCTCOG by March 31, 2024 and shall be returned to the City by March 1, 2025 if a construction contract has not been awarded; any unused funds shall be returned upon completion of the project.

Approval of this item supports the City's Strategic Plan Critical Success Factor of Multi-Modal Transportation and Mobility Solutions.