Title
Adopt a Resolution to Consider and Approve Text Amendments to the Transportation Element of the General Plan to Replace Level of Service (LOS) with Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the Criteria to be used for Transportation Analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), in Compliance with Senate Bill (SB) 743 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3
Staffreport
COUNCIL PRIORITY
• Infrastructure
• Community & Business Development
SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATIONS
Senate Bill (SB) 743, signed into law in 2013, required a shift in the focus of transportation analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to better align with the State’s sustainability and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals. SB 743 requires lead agencies, which started on July 1, 2020, to change the primary metric utilized to evaluate a project’s transportation impacts from Level of Service (LOS), as measured by roadway capacity and vehicle delay, to Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), which is an estimate of the amount and distance people drive by vehicle to reach a destination.
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a Resolution that amends the Transportation Element of the General Plan to formalize the replacement of LOS with VMT as the criteria to be used for transportation analysis under CEQA and to establish the appropriate context for LOS based analyses outside of the CEQA process. On January 4, 2024, the Planning Commission, by a vote of 6-0-1 (Commissioner Rich was absent), recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution to adopt the proposed General Plan text amendments.
BACKGROUND
CEQA requires public agencies to identify, disclose, and mitigate environmental impacts of projects by comparing potential impacts against adopted significance thresholds. Historically, lead agencies have used LOS to identify significant transportation impacts under CEQA. LOS prioritizes moving the largest number of automobiles as fast as possible and does not account for impacts to other travel modes, such as biking and walking. Rather than moving automobiles faster, the focus on LOS has often created traffic congestion over large areas and encouraged sprawling development patterns.
Senate Bill 743, codified in Public Resources Code Section 21099 prohibited the use of LOS as a CEQA threshold of significance after July 1, 2020 and directed the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to amend the CEQA Guidelines to better align transportation impact criteria with State environmental, economic, and public health goals. SB 743 allows cities to continue to use LOS within the local development review process to inform site access and traffic operations decisions but does not allow LOS to be used to evaluate CEQA impacts or mitigations.
The City of San Leandro implemented SB 743 locally by shifting to VMT based on transportation analysis for CEQA documentation after July 1, 2020. The 2035 General Plan Transportation Element envisioned the transition from LOS to VMT. The proposed General Plan Text Amendments would formalize the replacement of LOS with VMT as the criteria to be used for transportation analysis under CEQA.
Analysis
Proposed General Plan Amendments
Staff recommends text amendments to the General Plan Transportation Element, as shown in Attachment B, to serve the following purposes:
• Memorialize the switch from LOS based analysis to VMT based analysis.
• Direct staff to develop, maintain and periodically update administrative guidelines to support VMT based transportation impact analysis including thresholds of significance, project screening criteria, and standardized mitigation. The administrative guidelines would consist of the information contained in Attachment C.
• Support the use of LOS outside of CEQA to address a project’s effect on traffic operations at nearby intersections, access, circulation and congestion.
The proposed amendments are described below:
• Action T 1.3.B: Revised to allow staff to require a Local Transportation Impact Analysis (LTIA) based on LOS for development projects that may potentially affect access, circulation and congestion.
• Policy T 5.2: Revised to identify VMT as the metric for evaluating transportation impacts in CEQA documents.
• Action T 5.2.A: Added to direct staff to develop, maintain and periodically update local administrative guidelines supporting VMT based transportation impact analysis.
• Action T 5.2.B: Revised to clarify that LOS will no longer be used for evaluating and mitigating transportation impacts.
Applicable General Plan Policies
The proposed amendments are consistent with the General Plan Policies listed in Attachment D.
Environmental Review
The proposed text amendments are exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act in accordance with, each on a separate and independent basis, CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) because the text amendments do not have the potential to cause a significant effect on the environment and CEQA Guidelines Section 15268(a) because the proposed amendments are ministerial actions that are exempt from CEQA.
Planning Commission Review and Actions
The Planning Commission held a public hearing on the proposal on January 4, 2024. The Commission asked various questions, and staff clarified that: 1) the City of San Leandro has been in compliance with the requirements of SB 743 since it went into effect in 2020; 2) the proposed amendments memorialize and standardize staff’s current transportation analysis practices; 3) the City’s LOS goals vary based on location; there are locations where slower traffic is acceptable to facilitate a pedestrian-oriented environment; and 4) LOS-based analysis currently has limited application in CEQA. There were no public speakers for the item.
Following questions and deliberation, the Planning Commission voted 6-0-1 (Commissioner was Rich absent) to recommend City Council approval with a slight modification to Policy T-1.3.B clarifying that traffic associated with new development may be evaluated through a Local Transportation Impact Analysis (LTIA) for potential effects on access, circulation and congestion. This modification is reflected in Exhibit A and Attachment B.
Financial Impacts
There are no new fiscal impacts as a result of this resolution.
ATTACHMENT(S)
Attachment A: Resolution Adopting Text Amendments to the Transportation Element of the General Plan to Replace Level of Service (LOS) with Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the Criteria to be used for Transportation Analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), in Compliance with Senate Bill (SB) 743 and CEQA Guidelines Section 15064.3.
Exhibit A: Amended Transportation Element (excerpted clean version)
Attachment B: Amended Transportation Element (excerpted redlined version)
Attachment C: Administrative Guidelines Memo
Attachment D: General Plan Policies
Attachment E: San Leandro VMT CC 20240118
PREPARED BY:
Robin Chee, Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department - Engineering
Wayland Li, Planning Manager, Community Development Department