AGENDA STAFF REPORT

Agenda Item AGENDA STAFF REPORT ASR Control 20-000737
MEETING DATE:	11/17/20
legal entity taking action:	Board of Supervisors
board of supervisors district(s):	All Districts
SUBMITTING Agency/Department:	OC Public Works (Approved)
Department contact person(s):	Richard Vuong (714) 667-8895
	Joanna Chang (714) 667-8815

Subject: Approve General Plan Amendment 20-01 Land Use, Transportation, Growth Management

ceo CONCUR

County Counsel Review

Clerk of the Board

Concur

Approved Resolution to Form

Public Hearing

3 Votes Board Majority

Budgeted: N/A

Current Year Cost: N/A

Annual Cost: N/A

Staffing Impact:

# of Positions:

Sole Source: N/A

Current Fiscal Year Revenue: N/A

Funding Source: N/A	County Audit in last 3 years: No

Prior Board Action: N/A

RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):

Find that the subject is not a project within the meaning of CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 and is therefore not subject to CEQA.

Conduct Public Hearing.

Consider the matter and adopt Resolution to adopt:

General Plan Amendment GPA 20-01 – Land Use, Transportation and Growth Management Elements; and

Guidelines for Evaluating Vehicle Miles Traveled Under CEQA (September 2020); and

2020 Updated Transportation Implementation Manual as a stand-alone document.

SUMMARY:

Adoption of General Plan Amendment GPA 20-01 – Land Use, Transportation and Growth Management Elements, the Guidelines for Evaluating Vehicle Miles Traveled Under CEQA and the 2020 Updated Transportation Implementation Manual will incorporate new metrics for CEQA transportation analysis to ensure compliance with recent state-mandated changes.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Senate Bill (SB) 743 was signed by the Governor in 2013 with the intent to 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. Implementation of SB 743 requires that analysis of transportation impacts for CEQA documents occur through an analysis of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), not Level of Service (LOS), for Land Use Projects. For transportation projects, lead agencies for roadway capacity projects have discretion, consistent with CEQA and planning requirements, to choose the metric to use to evaluate impacts.

In response to SB 743, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) released a Technical Advisory on Evaluating Transportation Impacts in CEQA (OPR Advisory) (December 2018) that contains recommendations regarding assessment of VMT, thresholds of significance and mitigation measures. More specifically, for land use projects, OPR identified VMT per capita, VMT per employee and net VMT as new metrics for transportation analysis in CEQA.

General Plan Amendment (GPA)

On May 27, 2020, the Planning Commission (PC) authorized staff to initiate General Plan Amendment 20-01 - Land Use, Transportation and Growth Management Elements (GPA 20-01). GPA 20-01 incorporates the new metrics for CEQA transportation analysis to ensure compliance with recent state-mandated changes and deletes the Transportation Implementation Manual (TIM) from the General Plan Transportation Element (GPTE). The 2020 updated TIM is proposed as a stand-alone document in order to make future changes more efficient.

On June 23, 2020, the Board of Supervisors (Board) requested that the Governor extend the implementation date of SB 743 provisions until at least July 1, 2021, and that staff report back to the County of Orange (County) within 120 days and annually thereafter as a result of the COVID-19 emergency. The SB 743 provisions became effective July 1, 2020, statewide as scheduled. Multiple jurisdictions throughout California have, and continue to adopt, transportation analysis guidelines addressing VMT.

Guidelines for Evaluating VMT Under CEQA (VMT Guidelines): prepared by LSA Associates, Inc. (September 2020)

In addition to developing GPA 20-01, OC Development Services and other internal County agencies, with consultation from LSA Associates, Inc., the Architect-Engineer firm that was selected to assist with the SB 743 implementation for the County, completed the following items to bring the County in compliance with SB 743 and assist applicants with meeting the policy goals outlined therein: a) VMT Guidelines (September 2020) and b) VMT mapping tool to assess VMT impacts for land development projects, roadway improvement projects and other infrastructure projects.

The VMT Guidelines will serve as a guide for application of VMT analysis to CEQA reviews and will provide substantial evidence for the County’s project screenings significance thresholds and mitigation strategies. The VMT Guidelines are modeled after the OPR Advisory.

As in previous CEQA practices, the applicant/project proponent will still be required to provide applicable LOS traffic analysis that is specific to the proposed project to be reviewed and approved by the County. In addition, the applicant/project proponent will now be required to provide information on VMT, unless the project is exempt from VMT analysis.

Topics covered in the VMT Guidelines include:

Definition of Region. Orange County is defined as the region for CEQA land development transportation analysis, since the majority of the unincorporated County trips are contained within the entirety of Orange County (approximately 88 percent) and many other large urbanized areas are defining their region as their counties.

Project screening criteria will screen out projects that, by their nature, or by virtue of other factors, would result in less than significant transportation impacts including:

Land development projects that have one or more of the following attributes may be presumed to create a less than significant impact without undergoing additional detailed traffic analysis: (a) projects in high-quality transit areas; (b) neighborhood retail projects; (c) affordable housing projects; (d) low VMT area projects; (e) small projects generating 500 or fewer average daily trips; and (f) public facilities.

Transportation projects presumed to create a less than significant impact without undergoing additional detailed traffic analysis include: (a) rehabilitation, maintenance, replacement, safety and repair projects designed to improve the condition of existing transportation assets; (b) roadside safety devices or hardware installation; and (c) roadway shoulder enhancements to provide “breakdown” space dedicated for use only by transit vehicles. The OPR Advisory also lists a series of transportation projects that would not likely lead to a substantial or measurable increase in vehicle travel and that, therefore, would generally not require an induced travel analysis. These projects are adopted in the County’s VMT Guidelines. Additionally, transit and active transportation projects generally reduce VMT and are, therefore, presumed to cause a less than significant impact on transportation. This presumption may apply to all passenger rail projects, bus and bus rapid-transit projects and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects.

Thresholds of significance for a transportation project is any additional VMT generated by the project either due to increased roadway use or as a result of induced growth attributable to the project.

Thresholds of significance for the specific land uses:

Residential	15 percent below existing regional average VMT per capita (current calculation for existing regional average is 17.9 (average VMT/capita X 0.85 = 15.2)
Office	15 percent below existing regional average VMT per employee (24.1 average VMT/employee X 0.85 = 20.5)
Retail	No net change in total VMT
Mixed Use	Consider each component of the project separately based on the threshold for residential, office, retail, etc. and take credit for internal capture
Other Land Uses (not listed above)	No net change in VMT per employee if consistent with the General Plan or 15 percent below regional average if seeking a GPA

Mitigation strategies are identified to reduce, avoid, or offset the impact of specific project-related impacts. Potential mitigation strategies may include onsite improvements (e.g., pedestrian improvements and increased density) and financial incentives (e.g., subsidized transit passes). VMT Guidelines also list some ideas for potential mitigation strategies that may be applied to a project. The VMT Guidelines do not present an exhaustive list of feasible mitigation measures that may be applied to a project. As in previous CEQA practices, the applicant/project proponent will be required to identify mitigation measures to reduce, avoid or offset the specific project-related impacts identified in an individual environmental document.

VMT mapping tool was developed by LSA Associates, Inc. to assist with assessment of VMT impacts for land development projects, roadway improvement projects and other infrastructure projects within the unincorporated area so that prospective applicants can gauge the VMT levels of their proposed project and staff can validate data.

To date, because no County VMT Guidelines were in place as of July 1, 2020, the County has been utilizing the VMT metrics outlined in the OPR Advisory to assist with the evaluation of discretionary projects under CEQA within unincorporated Orange County and in cases where the County serves as the lead agency for projects located in another jurisdiction. The County will also continue to apply the LOS analysis or other traditional metrics to determine traffic impacts for operational level assessment as appropriate under the TIM. The County's VMT Guidelines also include language to explicitly allow applicants the ability to submit any proposals that deviate from the County's VMT Guidelines by providing substantial evidence to support their assertion is more appropriate for their project to the satisfaction of the County. At this time, staff is recommending adoption of VMT Guidelines specific to the County so that potential and current applicants are aware of the new regulations and can address them accordingly.

2020 Updated TIM

In response to the Board resolution referencing behavioral changes leading to fluctuations in transportation patterns as a result of the COVID-19 emergency, staff is recommending that the TIM be deleted as an Appendix of the General Plan and adopted as a stand-alone document. Staff anticipate additional changes from those now being proposed to address VMT analysis and will include updates to any outdated sections related to transportation metrics and reflect any new data on current conditions when it becomes available.

PC Action

On August 26, 2020, the PC held a public hearing and considered proposed GPA 20-01. The item was continued to a later PC date in order to provide additional time for external stakeholders to review the County’s VMT Guidelines. After the public hearing, OC Public Works, along with County Counsel and LSA Associates, Inc., followed up with the stakeholders to address questions related to the County’s VMT Guidelines. In general, these suggested technical edits have been made for clarification purposes.

On September 23, 2020, the PC held a second public hearing to consider proposed GPA 20-01 and voted to adopt PC Resolution No. 20-01, which recommends adoption by the Board to amend the County GPA-20-01 to incorporate new metrics for CEQA transportation analysis to ensure compliance with recent state-mandated changes; delete the TIM from GPTE and adopt as a stand-alone document; adopt the VMT Guidelines (September 2020); and adopt the 2020 Updated TIM.

Compliance with CEQA: This action is not a project within the meaning of CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 and is therefore not subject to CEQA, since it does not have the potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. The approval of this agenda item does not commit the County to a definite course of action in regard to a project since the action being authorized involves the recommendation of a GPA to ensure compliance with recent state-mandated changes regarding new metrics for CEQA transportation analysis, which is administrative. This proposed activity is therefore not subject to CEQA. Any future action connected to this approval that constitutes a project will be reviewed for compliance with CEQA.

FINANCIAL IMPACT:

N/A

STAFFING IMPACT:

N/A

ATTACHMENT(S):

Attachment A - Board of Supervisors Resolution
Attachment B - Exhibits A-D for Board Resolution
Attachment C - Minute Order and Resolution dated June 23, 2020
Attachment D - Planning Commission Staff Report dated August 26, 2020
Attachment E - Continuation Memo dated September 11, 2020
Attachment F - Update to Continuation Memo dated September 17, 2020
Attachment G - Planning Commission Resolution No. 20-01
Attachment H - Senate Bill No. 743