DATE:
September 15, 2021
01
TO:
Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT
Title
NOTICED PUBLIC HEARING:
CONSIDER RESCINDING THE TRANSPORTATION STUDY GUIDE IMPLEMENTING VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED ANALYSIS IN THE UNINCORPORATED REGION (DISTRICTS: ALL)
Body
OVERVIEW
In 2013, the State of California passed Senate Bill 743 (SB 743), which changed how jurisdictions, including the County of San Diego (County), analyze transportation impacts from privately and publicly initiated projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The CEQA analysis can no longer use level of service (LOS) when analyzing transportation impacts. LOS focuses on road congestion by measuring average amount of delay experienced by vehicle drivers during the most congested time of day. SB 743 noted that while automobile delay explains how projects will affect drivers, it does not consider how projects and plans will change the number and length of driving trips and the corresponding effects on the environment.
Therefore, instead of using LOS, SB 743 identified Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) as the standard to evaluate a project's environmental impacts. VMT measures the amount and distance people drive to destinations, and the number of trips specific types of land uses will generate. The intent behind SB 743 was to balance the needs of congestion management (traffic) with statewide goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, encourage infill development, and improve public health through more active transportation.
On June 24, 2020 (6), the Board of Supervisors (Board) adopted the Transportation Study Guide (TSG), a technical guide for analyzing transportation impacts using VMT. The TSG describes the process and procedures for project applicants to use when preparing transportation analyses beginning July 1, 2020. The TSG also included a methodology referred to as Local Mobility Analysis (LMA) to meet the County's General Plan requirement for a LOS D (stable flow of traffic with an...
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