Senate Bill 743 Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Threshold Development - Request for Proposals

1. RATIFY the release of a Request for Proposals for consultant services to support VMT Threshold Development for jurisdictions in Monterey County;  
2. APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Executive Director to execute contract with Kimley-Horn Associates, subject to approval by Agency Counsel, in an amount not to exceed $150,000 to provide region-wide support in VMT Threshold Development;
3. APPROVE the use of TAMC Reserves as an interim fund to pay for the services until reimbursement by participating jurisdictions is complete; and
4. AUTHORIZE staff to enter into reimbursement agreements with local jurisdictions for procured technical assistance for VMT Threshold Development, subject to the review and approval of Agency Counsel; and
5. AUTHORIZE the Executive Director to take such further actions as may be necessary to fulfill the intent of the contract, including approvals or future modifications or amendments that do not significantly alter the scope of work or change the approved contract term or amount, subject to approval by Agency Counsel. 

TAMC member agencies are seeking technical assistance for development of local thresholds of significance for vehicle miles traveled attributable to new development.  Use of the "VMT" metric is newly-required under the Senate Bill 743 changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) which take effect on July 1, 2020. TAMC is administering this shared contract to provide interested jurisdictions more timely and less costly technical assistance than would otherwise be available under several individual contracts. The Request for Proposals and consultant ranking were already conducted due to the short-time frame for implementation.

In September, 2013, the California Legislature adopted and the Governor approved Senate Bill 743 (SB 743), which, among other things, required the Office of Planning and Research to identify new metrics for identifying and mitigating the transportation impacts of new development under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”).

In December, 2018, pursuant to SB 743, the Office of Planning and Research adopted changes to the CEQA Guidelines that identified new metrics for transportation analysis, including Vehicle Miles Traveled (“VMT”) on a per capita, per employee, and net VMT.  The prior metric utilized to evaluate the impact of projects was whether or not the project increased traffic Levels of Service above a locally-set threshold, defined according to a letter grade system of A (no traffic) through F (stop and go). The purpose of this change was to focus on reducing the creation of new trips and miles traveled rather than accommodating them with new travel lanes.  The new VMT metrics go into effect on July 1, 2020. 

It is part of TAMC’s obligations as a regional transportation planning agency to develop the Regional Transportation Plan and Congestion Management Plan, which will be impacted by the new metrics related to VMT. TAMC also has an obligation to review environmental documents prepared by jurisdictions to identify new traffic impacts on the regional transportation system caused by new development, and recommend strategies or solutions for addressing those impacts, including how to reduce vehicle miles traveled. In order to integrate the new VMT metric into the CEQA analysis of new projects, a threshold of significance (i.e. how many new miles traveled are considered to be significant and therefore mitigated) needs to be set. State law allows local entities to set their own thresholds, based on local circumstances. 

Staff brought information to the Agency's Technical Advisory Committee about the updated metrics for measuring transportation impacts under SB 743 in May 2018 and April 2019. Staff has also been hosting SB 743 roundtable meetings with both planning and public works staff from jurisdictions across the Monterey County over the past few months. These meetings have fostered discussion on how TAMC can best support jurisdictions in meeting SB 743 requirements. 

In late March 2020, the County of Monterey and some cities asked TAMC to assist with the development of local VMT thresholds of significance to meet SB 743 requirements. After discussions, the parties asked TAMC to issue a request for proposals to share consultant services to provide technical assistance in this exercise.  

TAMC released a request for proposals at the end of May to expedite the  procurement. The scope of work includes development of vehicle miles traveled thresholds, screening maps and travel demand management strategies/trip reduction strategies for up to nine jurisdictions within Monterey County to meet the requirements of SB 743. Proposals were received from three firms:  GHD, Kimley-Horn and Mark Thomas. The review panel recommends the selection of Kimley-Horn to provide these technical services, based on their extensive experience utilizing the AMBAG model and providing SB 743 technical assistance within the Monterey Bay region. The procurement is particularly valuable for jurisdictions in Monterey County that may not have the capacity to procure their own services. Through the Agency's procurement, jurisdictions in Monterey County can save time and cost in meeting the requirements of SB 743. The entire effort is estimated to take four months.

The cities of Pacific Grove, Soledad and King City have already expressed interest and the County of Monterey and other cities may also be interested in utilizing the technical assistance to be undertaken by the TAMC-procured consultant.The proposed process is to enter into a reimbursement agreement with all participating jurisdictions. While TAMC has undertaken the effort to procure a consultant, The Executive Director does not plan to sign the consultant contract until all the participating jurisdictions approve the reimbursement agreement.

Draft Local Agency - TAMC Reimbursement Agreement