One of VTA's priorities as part of the BART Silicon Valley Phase II Project is to ensure small businesses near construction zones will be able to conduct business during Project construction. Although construction for a single-bore tunnel is less intrusive than twin-bore tunnels, some temporary impacts, similar to typical building construction, may occur where new BART stations will be constructed. Businesses are important to the local economy surrounding the planned transit stations, and VTA, in recognition of this, has initiated a Small Business Resource Plan and will engage a Small Business Task Force to identify how small businesses may be impacted during Project construction and identify what assistance would be relevant.

Starting this fall, VTA is initiating a Small Business Resources Study to assess how impacts related to construction might affect small businesses and investigate what other transit and public development projects have offered in terms of technical and financial assistance.

In addition, VTA will engage a small business task force to determine their needs during construction. The task force will be made up of small business owners, Chamber of Commerce members, and other stakeholders located near planned station areas. The task force will provide insight into vital business operations and technical resources that may be needed. The task force will review and comment on a draft plan before it's finalized. The study and task force engagement will inform recommendations to the VTA Board for consideration, in order to help the business community proactively prepare for construction-related impacts.

The Study is anticipated to be completed in the next six months and task force engagement will continue through project construction.

Using findings from the Study and initial feedback from the task force VTA will then develop the Small Business Resource Plan that it will implement throughout construction in coordination with the City of San José and stakeholders.

If you’d like to know more and hear updates on the Small Business Resource Study and/or the task force, please contact at vtabart@vta.org.

Marcy Kamerath on VTA's BART Phase II Project contributed to this article.