In This Issue:
- Livable Communities Grant Program Information Sessions
- TAC Considers Regional Solicitation Items Before Public Comment
Livable Communities Grant Program Information Sessions
This month, the Metropolitan Council will be hosting two in-person sessions to share information on Livable Communities Act grants for 2026. The LCA program has been updated to align with the new regional development guide, Imagine 2050, and to allow for a more streamlined application process. The first deadline for applications is April 15, 2026. Learn more about the new scoring criteria for the programs starting on page 5 at this link HERE.
The two sessions, details of which are below, will outline the same information:
Session #1:
Monday, Jan. 12, 2026
11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Northtown Library, 711 County Highway 10 NE, Blaine, MN 55434
Session #2:
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026
2:30 to 3:30 pm
Burnhaven Library, 1101 County Road 42 W, Burnsville, MN 55306
TAC Considers Regional Solicitation Items Before Public Comment
At their January meeting, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) took action on a series of business items related to the 2026 Regional Solicitation for federal transportation funds and took up additional items related to the solicitation for the 5 percent of regional sales tax revenue earmarked for active transportation. All items on the TAC’s agenda were approved, including items that would release the draft 2026 Regional Solicitation application package for public comment (pending approval by the TAB).
The first pair of items set the qualifying requirements for regional solicitation and active transportation projects. Most of the discussion dealt with year-round maintenance of any infrastructure funded by either pot of money. The item, as approved by the TAC, requires project sponsors to include information on how maintenance for year-round use will be met. This information could come in the form of an existing local ordinance, a letter or resolution, or a cross-jurisdictional agreement with another agency for maintenance. The primary form of maintenance discussed was snow removal in the winter. A concern was raised that requiring this level of maintenance could rule out smaller local governments who may not have the staff or resources to provide snow removal on a facility.
Next, the TAC considered a potential local match requirement for projects funded out of the active transportation solicitation. The business item approved by the TAC sets a 5% match for local bike and pedestrian facilities, but no match for the active transportation planning grants. Again, the question of burden on smaller jurisdictions was put forward. Ultimately, the TAC opted to keep the small match but said this could be rolled back in future solicitations.
Quite a bit of Wednesday’s meeting was spent discussing scoring criteria and measured weighting for the regional solicitation and active transportation applications. As the TAB, TAC, and several special working groups have worked to retool these applications a lot of time and attention has been spent incorporating new measures, such as ‘Community Considerations’, into the scoring criteria for all solicitation application categories. Initially, a Special Issue Working Group recommended that Community Considerations make up 20% of all the available points in each category. Some TAC members proposed to reduce this amount to 10%.
As these items have moved throughout the process there have been attempts to find a compromise on the amount. Ultimately, the TAC opted to move two proposals on to the TAB. The first, which came through the TAC’s Funding & Programming committee, adjusts community considerations down from 20% to 10% in the Safety application categories and down from 20% to 15% in all other application categories. The second, which was recommended by the Policy Work Group, adjusts the community considerations criterion to 15% in the safety application categories but bumps up “Improvements for People Outside of Vehicles” to 25%. The feeling on the TAC is that this is ultimately a policy decision, and the TAB will have the next opportunity to weigh in before this package is release for public comment.
It is anticipated that both the Regional Solicitation and Active Transportation application packages will be released for public comment periods that run from January 23rd until February 17th. Following the public comment period, staff will compile a report along with any suggested changes for TAB’s review and approval. Click HERE for a slide show presentation that walks through each of the TAC’s business items from their January meeting. These slides contain a side-by-side comparison of the two proposals on how to incorporate and weight community considerations criterion in regional solicitation application categories.
Contact Mike Lund at [email protected] or 651-215-4003 with any questions.