In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote multimodal transportation, and create a diversity of land uses, California has enacted a bill that will alter the way that transportation impacts are evaluated under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). State Bill 743 eliminates the traditional “level of service” (LOS) impact analysis and directs the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to prepare draft CEQA guidelines to implement the goals of SB 743.
Proposed guidelines were released in August 2014. The comment period on those proposed guidelines ends on November 21, 2014. Once approved, the guidelines will take effect in “transit priority areas” immediately and then statewide in 2016. (CEQA regulates California’s environment impact review process.)
Under the proposed guidelines, the analysis of the transportation impacts of proposed development will use vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as the measuring stick, rather than the LOS measure commonly used today. For the guidelines, VMT measures “the amount and distance that a project might cause people to drive,” whereas LOS focuses on congestion and delay. Changing the methodology is intended to result in more-sustainable communities.
The new VMT metric will apply to both land use projects and transportation projects. Increasing the number of miles traveled by automobiles—either by increasing distances or inducing additional trips—will be considered a negative impact. Traditional CEQA analysis often leads to mitigation measures that increase roadway capacity to accommodate new vehicle trips. Under the proposed guidelines, an increase in roadway capacity will be considered a significant impact that requires mitigation. Increased exposure of bicyclists and pedestrians in vehicle conflict areas, increased motor vehicle speeds, and increased queueing on freeway off-ramps would constitute significant transportation impacts. On the other hand, the new regulations should make transit-oriented development projects and transit service expansions less “impactful” under CEQA.
The guidelines suggest specific mitigation measures to reduce VMT. Those measures include enhanced access to transit, providing affordable housing, and increasing access to services like shopping, schools, and daycare. Other possible mitigation includes traffic calming, limiting parking availability, parking and road fees, and programs for car sharing, bike sharing, and ride sharing.
SB 743 should not be considered, however, as the end of LOS or concerns about congestion and delay. SB 743 explicitly states that it applies only to CEQA and does not affect the general plans of local agencies. As a result, cities and counties may choose to continue to use LOS in their general plans to set traffic standards for their communities. New development will be evaluated under both the CEQA standards and those standards contained in the local jurisdiction’s general plan.
What these regulatory reforms portend for California’s transportation infrastructure is not yet fully known, but city officials, planners, land use attorneys, and members of ULI Orange County/Inland Empire have been meeting to discuss next steps at the local and regional levels and are working together in ways that bode well for community development planning and southern California’s future.
The draft guidelines and additional information are available from the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.
JoAnn Hadfield is a principal at PlaceWorks, and assistant vice chair of ULI’s Orange County/Inland Empire Infrastructure Initiative Council; Tim Paone is a partner with Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP; and Tony Petros is a principal at LSA Associates, a member of the Newport Beach (California) City Council.