ITEM 9-A
COUNCIL MEETING: April 14, 1992 Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Recommendation to Adopt Two Resolutions related to the
implementation of the Transportation Management Plan.
In Addition, Staff Recommends that Council Authorize
the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute an Agreement
for Preparation of a Nexus Study.
INTRODUCTION
With this report, staff is recommending the Council adopt two
Resolutions that are necessary to implement the Transportation
Management Plan (TMP). One Resolution would approve a Memorandum
of Understanding between the City of Santa Monica and the South
Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) exempting
employers from the need to file a Regulation XV Trip Reduction
Plan with SCAQMD, and the other would establish the Annual
Employer Fee for administration and enforcement of the
Transportation Management Plan. In addition, this staff report
recommends that Meyer, Mohaddes Associates be awarded a contract
in the amount of $43,860 to prepare a nexus study to establish a
traffic mitigation fee on new commercial development so that such
development pays for the improvements to the City circulation
network made necessary by commercial development. This staff
report provides background on the purpose of the TMP ordinance,
and provides specific information on the three actions staff is
recommending.
BACKGROUND
On November 12, 1991 the Santa Monica City Council adopted the
Transportation Management Plan (TMP) ordinance in an effort to
reduce transportation congestion on City streets and to improve
air quality. The Ordinance was adopted with findings that future
traffic congestion on surface streets will be severe due to
expected growth in population and employment opportunities in the
City unless measures are taken to reduce commute hour traffic
levels. The Ordinance sets out goals that include reducing the
number of vehicle trips and total vehicle miles traveled;
reducing vehicle air pollution, energy usage and ambient noise
levels; ensuring City compliance with South Coast Air Quality
Management District Regulation XV; achieving a City-wide commuter
Average Vehicle Ridership of 1.50 within three (3) years; and
improving levels of service on streets and intersections that
have already reached Level of Service "E" or "F" during peak
hours. The Ordinance will also assist the City in meeting the
requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act, the California Clean
Air Act, the regional Air Quality Management Plan, and the Los
Angeles County Congestion Management Plan.
In order to implement the proposals adopted in the TMP, a
Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the South Coast
Air Quality Management District and an annual employer fee need
to be adopted. In addition, the ordinance creates the need for a
mitigation fee to fund improvements to the City's circulation
network. This fee would apply to new commercial development and
would pay for the impact new development has on the circulation
network.
In order to implement the fee, a nexus study must be performed to
determine the specific costs that are attributable to new
development. Without the study, the City cannot impose a fee to
implement the circulation improvements.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
The SCAQMD, through the adoption of the Regulation XV program,
requires employers of 100 or more employees to reduce the number
of morning peak period home-to-worksite vehicle trips. Since
the City of Santa Monica's TMP is accepted by SCAQMD as being of
equal or greater stringency than Regulation XV, employers subject
to Regulation XV may claim an exemption from the need to file a
Regulation XV Trip Reduction Plan with SCAQMD and only submit a
plan to the City.
Santa Monica's TMP is more stringent than SCAQMD's Regulation XV
in that it applies to employers of 10 or more employees and
attempts to reduce congestion in both the morning and evening
peak periods.
The approval status of the City's TMP ordinance by SCAQMD occurs
through a Memorandum of Understanding which must be approved by
the City Council and the SCAQMD Board of Directors. On March 6,
1992, the SCAQMD Board of Directors approved the Memorandum of
Understanding.
The Memorandum of Understanding, developed by staff from SCAQMD
and the City of Santa Monica, includes:
o A guarantee that the full intent and purpose of
Regulation XV is maintained and enforced (i.e., that
the City's TMP is as stringent or more stringent than
Regulation XV).
o A procedure which prevents the approved status of the
TMP from lapsing during future modifications to either
Regulation XV or the TMP.
o A mechanism with which employers can claim an exemption
from the need to file a Regulation XV Trip Reduction
Plan with SCAQMD.
The City of Santa Monica will enforce the TMP ordinance, but will
report to SCAQMD any violations or enforcement actions taken
against employers with 100 or more employees at a single
worksite. Because the City's TMP ordinance is not legally
enforceable against County, State or Federal agencies with
offices in the City, SCAQMD will enforce Regulation XV for these
government agencies. This includes the Santa Monica-Malibu
Unified School District and Santa Monica College. The City will
submit its own TMP Plan directly to SCAQMD for review and
enforcement.
Employers in the City with multiple worksites throughout the
South Coast Air Basin will not be exempt from the City's TMP
ordinance since such an exemption would remove a large percentage
of employers from the ordinance. This would include entities
such as banks, law firms, restaurant chains, fast food outlets,
grocery stores, and retail stores.
EMPLOYER ANNUAL IMPACT FEE
As indicated in Section 9224(a) of the TMP ordinance, an annual
employer fee needs to be adopted by resolution to pay for the
administration and enforcement costs of the TMP ordinance. With
the approval of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
SCAQMD, employers in the City will be responsible for filing a
Worksite Transportation Plan with only the City. This requires
the City to be responsible for reviewing and enforcing the
submitted Plans instead of the SCAQMD.
As was indicated throughout the TMP ordinance adoption process, a
fee of $8 per employee for employers with 10-49 employees and $6
per employee for employers with 50 or more employees is proposed
to implement the program.
Attachment D shows Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4 revenue
estimates for the TMP program based upon these fees and projected
number of employees in each category of the program. The TMP
will only address employers with 100 or more employees in the
first year, while the second year will address employers with 50
or more employees, and the third year and beyond will address
employers with 10 or more employees. The number of employees per
employer for the purpose of this analysis is based upon
information from the Southern California Association of
Governments. Actual employee numbers are being collected as part
of the annual business license renewal process.
Assumptions were made, to the best of staff's knowledge,
regarding the amount of fee reduction which would occur based
upon incentives in the TMP ordinance. These reductions include a
25% fee reduction for membership in a city certified
Transportation Management Association (TMA) and 40%, 50% and 60%
fee reductions for achieving a 1.5 average vehicle ridership
(AVR) in one, two, or three or more consecutive years,
respectively. How many employers actually participate in TMA's
or achieve a 1.5 AVR will not be known until the ordinance is
implemented. The maximum potential fee reduction for an employer
is 85%. Employers with an approved Regulation XV plan which is
less than six months old may submit that plan to the City for
their first year requirements and not pay a fee.
The fee resolution may be amended annually as part the budgetary
process to adjust the fees up or down based on the amount of
revenues actually collected and the cost of administering the
Plan.
Based on these assumptions, the following revenues are expected
to be collected based on the fees proposed:
Year 1 (FY 1992-93) $75,000
Year 2 (FY 1993-94) 175,828
Year 3 (FY 1994-95) 302,554
Year 4 (FY 1995-96) 284,612
In order to provide effective service to the employers within the
City, it is necessary to enhance staffing specifically to
implement the TMP regulations. The proposed budget for FY
1992-93 for administration and enforcement of the TMP ordinance
includes:
1 Transportation Management Coordinator $70,000*
2 Transportation Management Specialists 91,000*
1 Staff Assistant III 33,000*
Supplies and Expenses 55,000
________
Total: $249,000
* Includes Benefits.
Since the annual budget for the TMP Program is $249,000 and
revenues will not reach this amount until the third year of the
program, the shortfall experienced in the first two years will be
met through funds collected from the Water Garden and Colorado
Place Phase III projects to finance Citywide traffic mitigation
measures. The development agreements for these projects allow
for up to $1,000,000 of these funds to be spent for salaries of
employees exclusively involved in the implementation of the TMP
ordinance.
APPROVAL OF NEXUS STUDY TO ESTABLISH AN IMPACT FEE
Section 9224(b) of the TMP Ordinance provides for a developer
impact fee for new commercial development to help defray the
costs of physical improvements to the circulation network needed
due to new development throughout the City. In order to comply
with State legislation, a nexus study is required to show a
relationship between new commercial development and deficiencies
in the transportation system and establish the pro-rata share of
the costs of implementing the physical improvements.
The need for an impact fee on new commercial development is shown
by the fact that new development and major additions to existing
development by the year 2010 will have an adverse impact on the
existing transportation systems by adding approximately 17,000
trips to the existing demand of over 20,000 p.m.-peak hour trips
from non-residential land uses. The City has developed a capital
improvement program in the Citywide Traffic Study to reduce the
traffic impacts of new development. However, there are not
enough resources to implement the improvements at this time. The
purpose of the proposed nexus study is to determine the cost of
the transportation improvements that can be assigned to new
commercial developments based on the relative impacts created.
As outlined in the TMP ordinance, the developer impact fee will
be set by separate resolution after the nexus study is complete.
The developer impact fee will apply to developments which have
not received certificates of occupancy as of the effective date
of the resolution establishing the fees.
A Request for Proposal (RFP) to prepare the nexus study to
establish an impact fee on new development was issued by the Land
Use and Transportation Management Department. Seven firms
received copies of the RFP, with Meyer, Mohaddes Associates and
Recht-Hausrath & Associates responding with a joint proposal.
Staff reviewed the proposal and believes that it indicates a
clear understanding of the Nexus requirements and transportation
issues in the City. After analysis of the proposal, staff is
recommending a cost for the nexus study of $43,860.
Meyer, Mohaddes Associates developed the City-wide Traffix model
used in the City's Master Environmental Assessment and has a
strong working knowledge of local traffic conditions. The team
of Meyer, Mohaddes Associates and Recht-Hausrath & Associates was
also selected to conduct the Los Angeles County Transportation
Commission Congestion Management Program nexus Study.
Per the City Attorney, since conduct of a nexus study is an
integral component of the City's Transportation Management Plan
(TMP) ordinance and program, and since TMP program costs are
eligible for reimbursement from the Water Garden and Colorado
Place Phase III traffic mitigation fund, use of these traffic
mitigation fees is appropriate for the nexus study.
Under the recommendations of this staff report, the City Manager
would be authorized to enter into a contract with Meyer, Mohaddes
Associates for the Nexus study.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no projected budget or fiscal impact for approving the
resolution adopting the Memorandum of Understanding between the
City of Santa Monica and the South Coast Air Quality Management
District. However, the other recommendations presented in this
report do have a budget or fiscal impact.
The budget for administration of the TMP is approximately
$249,000 and will be partially funded by the Employer Annual
Impact Fee in the first two years. The Employer Annual Impact
Fee will fully fund the TMP program by the third year of
implementation. In the first two years there will be a total
shortfall of approximately $248,000 which will be off-set with
funds collected from the Water Garden and Colorado Place Phase
III traffic mitigation fund. At least $650,000 of the $1,000,000
traffic mitigation fund remain to be spent on implementation of
the ordinance. Revenue and expenditure accounts have already
been created during the FY 1990-91 Year-End Budget Review process
and no unreimbursed use of General Fund monies is proposed.
To fund the traffic mitigation fee nexus study, it will be
necessary for the City Council to appropriate $43,860 from the
General Fund balance to account #01-210-267-78520-5506-00000 and
to authorize use of $43,860 from the Water Garden and Colorado
Place Phase III traffic mitigation deferred revenue accounts as
reimbursement to the General Fund for nexus study expense. By
doing so, there will be no net impact on the General Fund.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council:
1) Approve the attached Resolution adopting the Memorandum
of Understanding with the South Coast Air Quality
Management District allowing employers in the City to
claim an exemption from filing a Regulation XV Plan
with SCAQMD.
2) Adopt the attached Resolution establishing the Employer
Annual Impact Fee to pay for the administration and
enforcement costs of the City's Transportation
Management Plan ordinance.
3) Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an
agreement with Meyer, Mohaddes Associates at a cost of
$43,860 for a nexus study on new commercial development
as part of the City's Transportation Management Plan.
4) Appropriate $43,860 from the General Fund balance to
account #01-210-267-78520-5506-00000 and authorize the
use of $43,860 from the Water Garden and Colorado Place
Phase III traffic mitigation deferred revenue accounts
as reimbursement to the General Fund for nexus study
expense.
Prepared By: Paul Berlant, Director of LUTM
Suzanne Frick, Planning Manager
Paul Casey, Transportation Planner
Land Use and Transportation Management Department
Program and Policy Development Division
Attachments:
A) Resolution Adopting the Memorandum of
Understanding
B) Draft Memorandum of Understanding
C) Resolution Adopting the Employer Impact Fee
D) Employer Impact Fee Revenue Estimates