Item 6-I

Council Meeting: August 10, 1999

Santa Monica, California

TO: Mayor and City Council

FROM: City staff

SUBJECT: Recommendation to Adopt Annual Local Implementation Report on the City's Congestion Management Goals and Approve Resolution of the City Council Finding the City to be in Compliance with the 1997 Congestion Management Program (CMP)

This staff report recommends that the City Council adopt the annual Local Implementation Report on the City's congestion management goals and the attached Resolution stating that the City is in compliance with the 1997 Los Angeles County Congestion Management Program (CMP). The CMP is a state-mandated program that was created to link land use, air quality and transportation decisions. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) administers the program for all cities in Los Angeles County. Conformance with the CMP is required in order for the City to be eligible for state gas tax monies from Proposition 111, passed by the voters of California in June, 1990.

The City of Santa Monica is required to conform to the CMP by taking the following actions:

Continue implementation of the Transportation Management Plan (TMP) ordinance.

Conduct biennial traffic counts and calculate levels of service for selected arterial intersections, consistent with CMP specifications.

As part of the environmental review process, analyze the impacts of new development on the CMP system.

Adopt a Local Implementation Report which tracks the City's progress in meeting the congestion management goals for new development.

Hold a noticed public hearing and adopt a resolution certifying compliance with the CMP.

Annually adopt a resolution to self-certify conformance with the CMP requirements.

 

The City has complied with the first three requirements described above by implementing the City's TMP Ordinance, conducting and forwarding traffic counts to the LACMTA (traffic counts are required in the odd-numbered years) and analyzing impacts to the CMP network as part of the environmental review process.

The Local Implementation Report (attached to the Resolution in Attachment A) summarizes the City's efforts in meeting congestion mitigation goals set out by the LACMTA. First, the report calculates the number of debit points that must be mitigated based upon new development activity. Second, the report includes a list of eligible transportation and land use measures which mitigate the impact of the new development and provide credit points. Unused credit points from previous local implementation reports are carried over to the following years. The report then summarizes the balance of debits to credits. This year's Local Implementation Report shows that the City has a surplus in congestion mitigation credits from land use improvements, capital improvements and transit improvements when compared to congestion debits due to new development.

This year the City has accrued 19,183 credits points from the following sources: Land Use Strategies including approval of mixed-use development and development with "transit friendly" parking design; Capital Improvement measures including arterial center medians and bike lanes; Transit Credit for additional bus service and route modifications; and continued implementation of a Transportation Demand Management Ordinance. The City carried over 83,445 credit points from improvements in earlier years. Debits totaled 4,959 points as a result of new development building permits approved this year. Overall the City now has 97,669 net credits that can be used in the future to claim Proposition 111 gas tax funds if the City’s debits from development permits surpass that year’s Congestion Management credits. To date the surplus credits have not been needed, since the City has annually generated more credits than debits.

If adopted, the Local Implementation Report and resolution will be forwarded to the LACMTA for determination of the City's conformance with the CMP. LACMTA staff will review the report for Santa Monica and all other Los Angeles County cities and present the information to the LACMTA Board later this year. Conformance with the CMP is important in order to maintain the flow of state gas tax monies to the City for transportation projects.

The recommendation presented in this report does not have a budget or fiscal impact.

It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached Resolution and attached Local Implementation Report finding that the City is in compliance with the 1997 Congestion Management Program (CMP).

Prepared by:

Suzanne Frick, Director

Ellen Gelbard, Deputy Director

Planning and Community Development Department

Attachment: A. Resolution for Adoption Finding the City to be in Compliance with the 1997 Congestion Management Program (CMP).