The Joint Powers Agreement for the fee program requires that the Transportation Agency, serving as the Joint Powers Agency Board, annually update the Regional Development Impact Fee Strategic Expenditure each August. The initial Strategic Expenditure Plan was approved by the Board in August 2009 and has been updated annually since that time. In 2013 and 2018, the nexus study for the program was also updated, per the state’s Mitigation Fee Act. The next such update will occur in 2023.
The current plan includes updated project cost estimates (adjusted based on the average of the previous year's construction cost index of +5.88%), revenue estimates for the Regional Development Impact Fee and other matching funds, and a draft timeline for project delivery. This update also incorporates the newly created fifth zone encompassing the area of the former Fort Ord. Prior Transportation Agency Board policy has been that once the Fort Ord Reuse Authority sunsets and the Communities Facilities District fee is no longer in effect, then the "Zone 5 - FORA" would become active. The Fort Ord Reuse Authority sunset on June 30, 2020 and Transportation Agency staff notified the affected jurisdictions that collection of regional fees in Zone 5 should commence as of July 1, 2020.
The Strategic Expenditure Plan prioritizes projects in three tiers, to identify which projects are considered near-term (Tier 1) , medium-term (Tier 2), and long-term (Tier 3), in relation to the fee program’s 2035 time horizon. Projects that are likely to go to construction sooner and/or have secured funding are scheduled for earlier delivery in the plan. Since the fee program only funds new development’s share of a project cost, which is less than 100%, the scheduled delivery of projects in the program depends on the availability of other revenues. Those other funding sources, such as the State Transportation Improvement Program, are variable. The Agency forecasts the federal, state and local monies that the region expects to receive in the long-range Regional Transportation Plan financial analysis, and the fee program Strategic Expenditure Plan has been updated to be consistent with the revenue forecast in that plan. The regional fee expenditure plan also maintains consistency with the programming actions included in the Board-approved 2021 Integrated Funding Plan, which covers the near-term Tier 1 horizon. Each fee program project is projected to be funded according to the revenue assumptions in the Regional Transportation Plan, but not all those matching funds have been secured.
The financial forecast in the fee program Strategic Expenditure Plan has also been updated to account for the actual revenues and expenditures from 2009 through 2020. During the Previous Cycle, $2.2 million in regional fee revenues paid for a portion of the construction of the $91.2 million US 101 San Juan Road Interchange project, per TAMC Board direction (the remaining project costs were funded with a variety of other state and federal funds). Utilizing Regional Development Impact Fee funds on the US 101 San Juan Road Interchange project freed up $2.2 million of Regional Surface Transportation Program funds for local projects. In addition, the Transportation Agency advanced $307,398 in Regional Development Impact Fee funds to the State Route 68 Commuter Improvements project. The advance funding allowed the intersection improvements at Highway 68 and San Benancio, a subset of the full State Route 68 Commuter Improvements project, to be completed in October 2012. In return for allocating the regional development fees, the County of Monterey directed the Fort Ord Reuse Authority to reimburse the Transportation Agency with $312,205 in FORA fees for the project. This reimbursement from FORA was received in June 2014. In 2016, construction began on the Holman Highway 68 roundabout, which utilized $1,104,719 of regional fee revenues. Additionally, regional fee revenues have been used on project development for the State Route 156 widening project in an amount of $188,337.
Currently, the Regional Development Impact Fee program has a balance of $5.9 million. The Board has previously approved programming these funds to State Route 156 Improvements (the Castroville Boulevard Interchange and the Blackie Road Extension projects). For the Castroville Boulevard Interchange project, regional fee funds in the amount of $5 million along with Measure X funds in the amount of $389,000 are being used as a match to a $20 million Senate Bill 1 Trade Corridors Enhancement Program grant that the Agency and Caltrans received. For the Blackie Road Extension project, $250,000 of regional fee funds are being matched with $250,000 of Senate Bill 1 Local Partnership Program formula funds.