NOACA: The faceless entity deciding Ohio’s Future
BY SANDIE ZIMMERMAN
The Ohio Roundtable
NORTHEAST OHIO – In the state of Ohio, there are many Metropolitan Planning Organizations, or MPO’s. These organizations are federally mandated institutions tasked with deciding how certain funds are doled out. But what happens if these MPO’s exceed their mandate?
Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, or NOACA, is one of 17 MPOs in the state of Ohio. The organization covers five counties across the northeastern part of the state, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina. The organization operates under the “Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act” for Long-Range Plans and Short-Range programs of Transportation Investment Priorities. These programs are jointly administered by Federal Transit Authority, or FTA and The Federal Highway Administration. Funding for these organizations comes from the federal and state gas taxes that Ohio citizens pay at the pump every time they fill up their tank. This money goes first to the Federal Government, who takes their cut before it is then doled out to the various MPO’s to fuel their mission statement.
According to the MPO Infrastructure Law fact sheet, NOACA’s purview includes development of transportation plans and programs, planning, Design and Evaluation of a public transportation project and technical Studies related to a public transportation project. According to the organization’s website, and it’s most recent Climate Change Summit, NOACA has been exceeding its stated mandates of focus on roads and bridges and increasing its scope to include a number of non-road based initiatives such as sustainable living, Climate change and equitable infrastructure.
According to some, one of the biggest challenges with NOACA is that, as an entity, they are deciding what infrastructure projects will be funded. Prior to the existence of NOACA, engineers would meet and collaborate, submitting their plans and designs to one another and then decide which infrastructure projects would be funded and built first. It should be noted that NOACA does not submit designs & infrastructure plans, that’s still done by County engineers. However, with NOACA involved, engineers are left out of the decision-making process as to which projects will be funded or prioritized. Now with their involvement, they have become the deciding force on what projects get funded and what ones get scrapped. Those critical of the organization speculate that the current guiding philosophy of NOACA, with an increased focus being placed climate change and social justice, could negatively impact the development of local communities should their plans not fit into NOACA’s design. Some citizens are now questioning whether Ohio needs MPOs like NOACA involved in infrastructure.
