Stanley S. Taylor

Stan Taylor focuses his practice on the funding and financing of major public transportation projects using traditional and innovative development and delivery methods. He also works with select private companies in the sector.

He serves as general counsel to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority assisting the agency with a broad range of transportation, governance and compliance projects. He is also general counsel to the California Asset Management Trust and the California Asset Management Program.

Stan offers clients deep expertise in revenue-generating sales tax programs. He serves as special counsel to numerous Northern California authorities on their efforts to adopt, implement and secure voter approval for countywide sales tax programs generating millions of dollars for transportation projects. These include Santa Clara County, the Solano Transportation Authority, the Solano Transportation Improvement Authority, the Transportation Authority of Marin, the Transportation Agency for Monterey County, the Alameda County Transportation Commission and the Santa Cruz County Transportation Commission.

Experience

California Department of Transportation – Presidio Parkway. Member of the legal team that advised on a $1.1 billion project that rebuilt a natural gateway connecting the Golden Gate Bridge with the City of San Francisco. The parkway was the first procurement under California's P3 law and the third highway project developed under an availability payment public-private partnership in the U.S. Our services included assisting with the procurement and contract documents, project financing, and successful defense of litigation challenging the authority to deliver the project through a public-private partnership. Presidio Parkway opened to traffic in July 2015 and captured many honors. As general counsel to San Francisco County Transportation Authority, Stan drafted and negotiated access and other agreements with the property owner, Presidio Trust; negotiated and drafted funding and other cooperative agreements among Caltrans, SFCTA and other funding agencies; and drafted and negotiated consultant agreements for design, environmental clearance and project management.

San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority – Water Transportation System. Member of the legal team serving as general counsel to this statutory regional water transit authority that coordinates publicly operated ferry services in the San Francisco Bay from 2003 to 2017. Stan’s role included negotiating agreements between the agency and public ferry operators that led to the transfer of vessels, facilities and equipment to WETA. He also negotiated and drafted procurement documents for construction of new ferry vessels and the first new ferry terminal in the Bay Area in more than 50 years. In addition, he assisted the agency in the environmental clearance and drafting and negotiation of documents for construction of new ferry maintenance facilities for North and Central Bay operations. Among other work, he drafted and negotiated procurement documents for dredging and for terminal and float reconstruction projects – obtaining the necessary permits and achieving environmental clearance for projects at existing terminals in Alameda, Oakland, San Francisco and Vallejo.

Interstate JCDecaux – Chicago Digital Sign Network. Advisor to the world’s largest outdoor advertiser in connection with a major billboard P3 project in Chicago. In 2013, the City made a deal with a partnership of Paris-based JCDecaux and regional outdoor advertising company Interstate Outdoor to erect new state-of-the-art large-format digital billboards on City-owned land adjacent to Chicago expressways. The signs will post weather, traffic and missing person alerts; public event promotions and a series of rotating ads. The project, built at no cost to the City, will earn $700 million in revenue over the next 20 years, generating payments of at least $150 million to the City. Stan is helping the company pursue similar projects in other large metropolitan areas including Los Angeles and New York City, initially by identifying potential sites for construction of new signs.

Alameda County Transportation Commission – Dumbarton Rail. Special counsel on a proposed $800 million, 20.5-mile project to provide much-needed commuter rail service across the currently abandoned Dumbarton rail bridge from the Caltrain corridor on the San Francisco Peninsula to the Union City BART Station on the East Bay. Stan assisted in analyzing options for acquisition of the existing line – including a negotiated purchase or acquisition of a lesser interest in the line through a lease or other shared-use arrangement.

Alameda County Congestion Management Agency – SMART Corridors. Legal counsel in connection with governance and implementation for an advanced transportation management system to improve traffic flow on three major arteries in Alameda County, CA. These included improvements included emergency vehicle preemption procedures; transit signal priority systems; and advanced traveler information systems. We drafted and negotiated a joint exercise of powers agreement among the involved agencies that outlined their responsibilities and commitments.

City of Stockton, California – Public Asset Privatization. Leader of the team that assisted Stockton in designing and implementing a procurement process to transfer ownership and operation of two City-owned landfills to a qualified private company. The transaction relieved the City of its obligation to operate waste management services, reduced its liability risks, cut costs and raised revenue for other public services. Stan successfully organized and led the team of consultants that guided the procurement.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission – Clipper Card. Special counsel to the team selected to implement governance for the Clipper Card Program, a reloadable contactless smart card used on a wide range of public transportation systems in the Bay Area. The project established structures to address joint management of the system, fare collection and disbursement and schedule synchronization. It was the first implementation of a smart card involving such a large number of public agencies.

California Asset Management Trust and California Asset Management Program – CAMT and CAMP. General counsel to the trust and its program. The California Asset Management Trust was created to give local agencies a convenient and completely liquid alternative for the investment of surplus cash, including bond proceeds. The Trust currently manages more than $2 billion on behalf of more than 50 California agencies in a pooled investment account, and close to $1 billion in individually directed accounts (collectively referred to as the California Asset Management Program). The pooled account is a hybrid that functions like a money market mutual fund, but is regulated by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board as a local government investment pool. CAMT enjoys an AAA rating from Standard and Poor’s and an equivalent rating from Moody’s. CAMP is one of the largest programs of its type in the nation. Our legal services include governance and management issues, public meeting legal matters, contract review and negotiation and general advice.

Publications

Blog Posts

Community & Professional

California Transportation Foundation, Board of Directors

Contra Costa Council; Past President, Current Member, Board of Directors

Friends of Cal Crew

Honors & Recognitions

Selected to the Super Lawyers list