Title
Adopt a Resolution to Accept and Authorize the City Manager to Execute All Agreements to Receive a Technical Assistance Grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in the Amount of $265,000 to examine Station Access and Circulation Around the City’s Five Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Stations and Reaffirm the City’s Support of Local Implementation of MTC’s Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) Policy
Staffreport
COUNCIL PRIORITY
• Infrastructure
• Economic Development
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a Resolution approving and authorizing the City Manager to accept a $265,000 Technical Assistance Grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to examine multimodal station access and circulation around the City’s five AC Transit-operated TEMPO Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations. The grant award is intended to support the City’s efforts to achieve compliance with MTC’s Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) Policy (Attachment B). The Resolution would also reaffirm the City’s support of local implementation of MTC’s TOC Policy.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Technical Assistance Grant
In October 2024, MTC issued a Call for Projects for jurisdictions seeking technical assistance to support work necessary to come into compliance with MTC’s TOC Policy. The City of San Leandro subsequently applied for and received a $265,000 grant to support the City’s efforts towards achieving compliance. The grant would specifically fund an examination of multimodal access and circulation around the City’s five BRT stations (four BRT stations located along E. 14th Street and Davis Street and the BRT boarding platform at the San Leandro BART Station), a requirement for achieving compliance with the TOC Policy. The examination would include recommendations for capital and service improvements that would enhance and expand convenient access to the City’s BRT stations via walking, biking, or bus/shuttle trips.
Transit-Oriented Communities (TOC) Policy
In 2022, MTC adopted a TOC Policy to support the region’s transit investments by ensuring communities around transit stations are places that not only support transit ridership, but advance the goals of Plan Bay Area 2050, the region’s long-range plan for transportation, housing, the economy and the environment. The TOC Policy applies to land within a half-mile radius of existing and planned fixed-guideway transit stops and stations. In San Leandro, the TOC Policy applies to the areas around the Bay Fair BART Station, the San Leandro BART Station and the City’s BRT corridor along E. 14th Street.
Compliance with TOC Policy is voluntary, but MTC will prioritize discretionary funding, including One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) funds to jurisdictions that comply with the TOC Policy. The OBAG program is a significant source of funding for transportation infrastructure projects in the region. The most recent round of OBAG (OBAG 3) included more than $750 million in transportation infrastructure funding. A call for projects for the next round of funding (OBAG 4) is anticipated in 2026.
Local Implementation of TOC Policy
In order to be deemed compliant with the TOC Policy, jurisdictions must satisfy a series of requirements in each of the four policy areas:
1. Minimum residential and commercial office densities for new development.
2. Affordable housing production, preservation and protection, and stabilizing businesses to prevent displacement.
3. Parking management.
4. Transit station access and circulation.
Staff is currently working towards achieving compliance with the TOC Policy in all four policy areas. The City has engaged a transportation consultant to develop recommended Transportation Demand Management (TDM) requirements for new development and amendments to the City’s parking regulations to support compliance with parking management requirements. Staff is analyzing requirements related to commercial office and residential densities to prepare recommended Zoning Code amendments, as needed, to support compliance. Staff is also reviewing and documenting affordable housing-related policies. The $265,000 Technical Assistance Grant would support compliance with the station and access, and circulation requirements of the TOC Policy.
Previous Actions
In 2023, the City applied for and received a $1.8 million grant from MTC to prepare a Development Plan and amendments to the Bay Fair TOD Specific Plan to facilitate transformative development in the Bay Fair TOD area. As part of that award, the City committed to work towards achieving compliance with TOC Policy through the project. Compliance with the TOC Policy will be crucial to redevelopment in the Bay Fair TOD area as it will also enable the City to remain competitive for regional infrastructure investments that are needed to catalyze development in the area.
Fiscal Impacts
There is no impact on the General Fund as there is no required local match for the TOC Policy grant. However, the Resolution commits an in-kind contribution of staff time if grant funds are awarded.
If approved by Council, the action will result in a $265,000 Technical Assistance Grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to examine multimodal station access and circulation around the City’s five AC Transit-operated TEMPO Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations.
ATTACHMENTS:
A - Resolution
B - MTC TOC Policy
C - Grant Award
PREPARED BY:
Binh Nguyen, Associate Planner
Community Development Department