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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVehicle Miles Traveled presentation 160 W. Santa Clara Street | Suite 675 | San José, CA 95113 | (408) 278 -1700 | Fax (408) 278-1717 www.fehrandpeers.com Memorandum Date: February 14, 2020 To: Nicole Johnson, City of Saratoga From: Franziska Church, Fehr & Peers Subject: Senate Bill (SB) 743 – Background and the State’s Intent SJ19-1954 Senate Bill 743 Background On September 27, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 743 into law and started a process intended to fundamentally change transportation impact analysis as part of CEQA compliance. These changes include elimination of auto delay, level of service (LOS), and other similar measures of vehicular capacity or traffic congestion as a basis for determining significant impacts. The law directed the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to update the CEQA Guidelines to include new criteria (e.g., metric s) for determining the significance of transportation impacts. OPR selected vehicle miles of travel (VMT) as the transportation impact metric, recommended its application statewide, and submitted updates to the CEQA Guidelines that were certified by the Natural Resources Agency in December 2018. As of January 1, 2019, vehicle LOS is no longer to be used as a measure of transportation impact for land use projects and land use plans although lead agencies have been granted a grace period until January 1, 202 0 to opt-in to implementing these changes. Lead agencies may also continue to use LOS (and similar metrics) for transportation project impact analysis outside of CEQA. To help aid lead agencies with SB 743 implementation, OPR produced the Technical Advisory on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA (December 2018). The Technical Advisory helps lead agencies think about the variety of implementation questions they face with res pect to shifting to a VMT metric. The guidance is not a recipe for SB 743 implementation since lead agencies must still make their own specific decisions about metrics, methodology, thresholds, and mitigation. Nicole Johnson February 14, 2020 Page 2 of 2 Specifically, lead agencies, like Saratoga , adopting daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a significance threshold for environmental impact analysis must decide: • What will be Saratoga ’s VMT metric? • What methodology will the City use to estimate VMT? • What is the City’s significance threshold? • What mitigation measures does Saratoga consider feasible for VMT impacts? The State’s Intent When thinking about the questions listed above, it is helpful to understand the two legislative intent statements contained in the SB 743 statute. 1) Ensure that the environmental impacts of traffic, such as noise, air pollut ion, and safety concerns, continue to be properly addressed and mitigated through the California Environmental Quality Act. 2) More appropriately balance the needs of congestion management with statewide goals related to infill development, promotion of publi c health through active transportation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. These statements are important because they provide direction to OPR and to lead agencies. For OPR, the direction is largely about what new metrics should achieve. For lead agencies, the direction is about expected changes in transportation analysis (and related technical areas) plus what factors to consider for significance thresholds. Next Steps Fehr & Peers will be working with the City of Saratog a to implement SB 743, which includes develop ing policy and analysis guidelines as it re lates to four questions listed above. The current approach is to adopt SB 743 as part of General Pla n Update pr ocess. Implementing SB 743 February 28, 2020 LOS to VMT Transition City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Agenda 1.LOS and VMT Defined 2.SB 743 Overview 3.Saratoga General Plan 4.VTA’s Efforts 5.VMT Evaluation Options 6.Funding Transportation Improvements 7.Next Steps City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation What is LOS? City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation What is VMT? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE4TJItVdJ8 City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Project Generated VMT City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Project’s Effect on VMT City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation What’s the Intent of SB 743? Ensure that the environmental impacts of traffic, such as noise, air pollution, and safety concerns, continue to be properly addressed and mitigated through the California Environmental Quality Act. More appropriately balance the needs of congestion management with statewide goals related to infill development, promotion of public health through active transportation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation What does SB 743 Do? SB 743 eliminates level of service (LOS) as a basis for determining significant CEQA impacts. City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation What does SB 743 Do and Not Do?  Eliminates vehicle delay (i.e., LOS) as basis for determining significant CEQA impacts Recommends VMT as the most appropriate measure of transportation impacts Other considerations may include transit and non- motorized travel  Affect planning, design, or development review, except for the CEQA process Change the General Plan or Congestion Management Plan process Change CEQA disclosure standards City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Saratoga General Plan Update Street System and Standards of Service •Goal:Balance the safe and efficient movement of all modes of travel …. •Policy: Develop, implement, and update a Citywide multi- modal transportation impact analysis (TIA) guidelines that are complimentary VTA’s guidelines •City TIA Guidelines could include LOS threshold for development application purposes City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation How Does SB 743 Relate to CEQA? Legislation Sets intent and goals CEQA Statute Sets legal requirements for adequate environmental analysis Technical Advisory Offers advice for compliance Local Discretion Decides how to implement City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Discretion to Implement CEQA Metric Method Threshold Mitigation City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation What is VTA Doing? VMT Estimates Baseline Estimates for County Metric VMT Screening Low VMT areas and Transit Priority Areas Method VMT Mitigation TDM Measure effectiveness Mitigation City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation VTA Data Residential VMT Per Capita City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation VTA Data Employee VMT Per Job City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation VMT Evaluation 1.OPR Technical Advisory: 15% below baseline 2.Consistent with AQ/GHG Goals: 16.8% 3.Consistent with GP: “VMT Growth Budget” 4.Baseline VMT: Any growth in VMT City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Funding Transportation Improvements 1.Development Application Process a)Consistency with LOS standard 2.Impact Fees (per unit/sf.) a)VMT Based (Multi-Modal Transportation) b)LOS Based City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Next Steps •City decides on metric, method, threshold, and mitigation •Fehr & Peers documents final process/guidelines •Use VTA model for GP Analysis •Apply in General Plan City of Saratoga SB 743 Implementation Questions?