The Regional Development Impact Fee program, as adopted by the Transportation Agency Board of Directors and each of the jurisdictions, went into effect in August 2008. Prior to the adoption of the regional fee program, development proposals were evaluated on a case-by-case basis for cumulative impacts to the regional transportation network as part of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. This process resulted in, at times, lengthy negotiations with developers, and assessments were not consistently applied throughout the County. The purpose of establishing a countywide Regional Fee program was to streamline the environmental review of new development, and establish a consistent methodology to assess in-lieu fees as a CEQA mitigation for new trips on the regional transportation system.
As part of the Joint Powers Agreement that established the program, and state law, the Agency is required to conduct a major update to the fee program once every five years. In August 2017, the TAMC Board approved the selection of Wood Rodgers to conduct the technical work necessary to update the regional fees. This update is based upon projects identified and environmentally reviewed in the 2018 Monterey County Regional Transportation Plan and its accompanying CEQA Findings.
The updated fees will reflect changes that have occurred in the past five years, such as: updates to population, employment and housing projections; the expected pace of new development; changes in land use plans including general plan updates; the need for new transportation projects based on growth; the completion of some transportation projects; and, changes to estimated project costs.
To calculate the traffic impact fee, the consultant, Wood Rodgers, used the AMBAG travel forecast model to determine where future traffic congestion (i.e. a network "deficiency") is projected to occur in 2035 (the forecast year). The fee program then proposes future roadway improvements where this traffic congestion is projected to occur. Only a portion of the future traffic congestion is caused by new trips; the remaining traffic is caused by trips to and from existing development, i.e. employment, housing or shopping centers. Because project costs have increased, while projected new development has decreased, the proposed 2018 regional fee schedule shows higher fees per trip than the 2013 program for the North County, Greater Salinas, and Peninsula zones. In the South County zone, however, per trip fees have decreased, because of a reduction in the projects and project costs attributable to this zone.
Agency staff and Wood Rodgers presented the draft results of the 2018 Regional Development Impact Fee Nexus Study Update to the Transportation Agency Board of Directors at the August 22, 2018 meeting as part of a workshop on the fundamentals and technical aspects of the regional fee program. In light of the increase to the fee per trip calculated in the draft study, the Board voted to carry approval of the draft study over for one month and requested that staff reevaluate the inclusion of the State Route 156 widening project in the regional fee program. Agency staff has developed a proposal for segmenting the project into individual components:
- Segment 1: State Route 156 / Castroville Boulevard Interchange
- Segment 2: State Route 156 Widening
- Segment 3: State Route 156 / US 101 Interchange
Agency staff is proposing to include segments 1 and 2 in the regional fee program while excluding segment 3, which would reduce the associated costs for this project in the draft 2018 regional fee program from $388 million to $150 million. The rational for excluding segment 3 is that securing other fund sources to construct the full $388 million project will likely exceed the 2035 time frame of the fee program. If funding conditions change in the future, such as securing state legislation to implement Public-Private Partnerships, the decision to re-incorporate Segment 3 in the fee program could be considered. Agency staff will present the proposal to the Executive Committee for discussion and provide an update on how the level of the regional fee would change for each benefit zone under the staff proposal at the September 5, 2018 meeting.